REMINISCENCES 


V. 


Of  a  Scout,  Spy 
and  Soldier  of 
Forrest's  Cavalry 


======  BY  ========= 

WM.  WITHERSPOON 

JACKSON,  TENNESSEE 
 =  1910— — = 


COL.  VIRGIL  YOUNG  COOK 
MEMORIAL  COLLECTION 


DUKE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
DURHAM,  N.  C. 


GIVEN  BY  HIS  DAUGHTER 

MRS.  R.  DWIGHT  WARE 


V.  Y.  COD:". 


REMINISCENCES 


A  SCOUT,  SPY 
AND  SOLDIER 


OF  FORREST'S  CAVALRY 


=====  B  Y  = 

WM.  WITHERSPOON 
JACKSON,  TENN. 


19  10 


McCowat-Mercer  Printing  Co.,  Jackson,  Tenn. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


https://archive.org/details/reminiscencesofsOOwith 


9  7  3,  7  £  2- 


Reminiscences  of  '61  and  '65. 


While  sitting  in  the  Court  House  at  Jackson,  Tennessee, 
June  3,  1908 — Memorial  Day — exercises  held  there  on  ac- 
count of  the  inclemency  of  the  weather,  when  reminis- 
cences were  called  for  from  the  old  Veterans  of  the  Gray 
I  felt  impelled  to  relate  this  story,  but  not  accustomed  to 
speaking,  I  was  halting  and  hesitating  what  to  do,  al- 
though I  had  on  many  occasions  faced  the  mouth  of  the 
cannon  hurling  grape  shot  and  cannister  amidst  our 
ranks,  charging  the  line  of  Blue  armed  with  the  rifle  of 
the  best  that  Yankee  ingenuity  could  devise.  Sometimes 
behind  formidable  breastworks  and  at  others  lying  behind 
some  advantageous  position  of  the  ground  or  meeting 
them  in  a  charge  with  that  terrible  awe-inspiring  Rebel 
yell  that  never  failed  of  victory.  Strange  as  it  may  ap- 
pear, after  having  undergone  all  this  in  following  the  for- 
tunes of  the  wizard  of  the  saddle,  N.  B.  Forrest,  my  heart 
failed  me,  although  every  face,  eye  and  heart  in  that  as- 
semblage were  beaming  with  admiration  and  love  for  the 
cause  that  went  down  at  Appomattox. 

Then  the  chairman,  Mr.  R.  R.  Sneed,  turned  to  other 
parts  of  the  programme,  I  was  so  impressed  with  the  en- 
vironments on  that  occasion,  for  it  was  in  that  Court 
House  and  in  the  same  room  this  occurred  just  forty-five 
years  ago,  two  young  boys  of  the  7th  Tennesse  Cavalry 
were  marched  into  that  room  prisoners  of  war  about  1 
o'clock  A.  M.  (having  been  captured  at  Capt.  Jones,  some 


181438 


4 


twenty  miles  west  of  Jackson,  on  the  Forked  Deer  River, 
early  that  night)  with  the  charge  of  spy  entered  against 
one  of  them. 

Of  that  charge,  of  course,  neither  knew.  But  one  was 
terribly  uneasy  in  regard  to  himself  and  so  was  the  other 
feeling  bad  for  his  friend's  situation.  It  was  this,  one  had 
been  wounded,  shot  in  the  face,  was  discharged  from  the 
army.  At  that  time,  1861,  a  discharge  was  easy.  The 
Confederate  authorities  were  not  particular  in  having  dis- 
figured, maimed  or  any  kind  of  cripples  on  the  fighting 
line. 

It  was  then  you  so  often  heard  the  expression,  "One 
Southerner  could  whip  one-half  a  dozen  Yanks  just  for  a 
breakfast  appetite."  After  the  discharge  was  given,  he 
said  he  would  not  quit  the  Confederate  cause,  but  would 
act  in  other  ways,  which  he  did.  He  became  spy  and 
scout,  and  in  that  capacity  acted  for  the  South. 

He  gave  the  enemy  so  much  trouble,  and  they  had  an 
inkling  of  what  he  was  doing.  A  reward  of  $500.00  was 
offered  to  take  him,  dead  or  alive,  by  the  Federal  com- 
mander at  Jackson. 

Xow,  to  make  my  story  better  understood  and  complete, 
I  will  go  back  to  the  beginning  of  this  adventure.  The 
prisoners  alluded  to  are  Allen  Shaw  and  William  Wither- 
spoon,  the  writer  of  these  Eeminiscences.  A  few  days 
previous  to  this,  General  W.  H.  Jackson's  brigade,  con- 
sisting of  the  1st  Mississippi  Cavalry  Regiment  (Pin- 
son's)  and  the  7th  Tennessee  Cavalry,  were  encamped  on 
Cold  Water  Creek,  about  five  miles  north  of  Holly 
Springs,  Miss. 


5 


I  (William  Witherspoon)  received  an  order  from  my 
Captain,  James  Taylor,  with  an  explanation  of  my  ex- 
pected services  to  report  immediately  to  General  Jackson. 
I  did  so.  General  Jackson  explained  to  me  the  nature  of 
the  dnty  he  wanted  me  to  perform,  but  said  it  was  out  of 
the  usual  line  of  duty  for  a  soldier  to  perforin  and  it 
would  have  to  be  altogether  voluntary  on  my  part.  He 
stated  he  preferred  a  Madison  County  man  (Jackson  is 
the  County  seat  of  Madison  County)  as  he  would  be  better 
qualified  to  do  the  particular  work  he  wanted  done,  ac- 
quainted with  the  country  and  people.  ' 'The  enemy  are 
fortifying  at  Jackson,  Tennessee.  I  want  all  the  infor- 
mation I  can  get  of  their  strength,  amount  of  work  they 
are  doing,  in  fact  any  and  everything  in  regard  to  them. ' ' 
He  (General  Jackson)  then  explained  to  me  if  I  should 
undertake  the  duty  and  should  meet  with  the  misfortune 
of  being  captured  and  it  was  known  what  my  errant  was, 
it  would  be  short- shrift  with  me.  A  drum-head  court  mar- 
tial and  hung  by  the  neck  at  sunrise  the  next  morning.  He 
would  not  order  me  to  do  this,  but  it  must  be  a  voluntary 
act  on  my  part.  I  told  him  if  he  considered  it  of  any  im- 
portance, I  would  undertake  it.  But  boy-like  I  did  not 
realize  the  big  job  I  was  about  to  undertake  or  its  fearful 
consequences  in  case  of  a  mishap,  although  in  my  limited 
reading  as  a  schoolboy  I  was  aware  of  the  fate  of  Nathan 
Hale  and  Andre  of  Eevolutionary  times.  General  Jack- 
son wanted  to  know  when  I  could  start.  I  replied,  as  soon 
as  I  could  saddle  my  horse.  I  had  a  tip-top  thoroughbred 
Kentucky  saddler.  It  was  about  seventy-five  miles  from 
Cold  Water,  Mississippi,  to  my  father's,  who  was  then 
living  ten  miles  west  of  Jackson.   Accompanying  me  on 


181438 


6 


that  trip  was  my  old  schoolmate,  bedmate  and  comrade, 
Henry  J.  Fox,  then  of  Carroll  County,  now  a  resident  of 
Humboldt,  Tennessee.  He  in  no  wise  was  connected  with 
my  expedition,  but  was  coming  to  get  a  better  horse  than 
he  had.  I  got  to  my  father's  about  1  o'clock  in  the  night. 
My  father  and  mother  were  much  excited  on  my  arrival. 
Father  wanted  to  know  where  was  my  command,  I  told 
him  I  was  alone  and  the  command  was  in  Mississippi.  He 
said,  ' ' Great  God,  Will,  you  have  not  deserted."  My 
father  would  much  have  preferred  my  filling  an  honored 
soldier's  grave  than  to  be  in  life  at  home  a  deserter.  I 
told  him  no,  but  I  had  come  on  business.  "What  have 
you  done  with  your  horse"?  he  asked.  I  gave  him  to 
Wash  (a  negro  who  was  a  house  servant)  to  attend  to. 
"Yes,  and  that  negro  has  gone  to  Jackson  on  your  horse 
and  you  will  be  captured  in  two  hours. ' '  I  said  to  him  I 
was  not  afraid  of  Wash  betraying  or  the  Yanks  taking  me. 
How  well  was  that  confidence  and  trust  the  South  placed 
in  the  negro,  slave  though  he  was.  In  the  four  years  of 
conflict,  all  over  the  South  the  negro — then  a  slave — al- 
though Mr.  Lincoln's  emancipation  proclamation  made 
him  free,  was  loyal  to  his  master  and  family.  That  fact 
being  so  universal  we  can  not  honor  and  love  too  much 
our  old  time  before-the-war  negroes  and  that  we  certainly 
do.  My  ride  of  seventy-five  miles  that  day  with  one-third 
of  it  in  the  possession  of  the  enemy,  made  me  hungry, 
tired  and  sleepy.  "Give  me  something  to  eat  and  let  me 
get  to  bed  and  we  could  talk  it  over  in  the  morning. ' '  I 
did  not  and  could  not  realize  what  had  taken  place  in  my 
home  in  such  a  short  time.  Its  condition  before  the  ad- 
vent of  the  Yanks  and  now  their  possession  of  my  home. 


While  eating  my  supper  father  and  mother  were  telling  of 
how  affairs  were  going  on.  The  negro  men,  about  twenty 
in  number,  were  impressed  to  work  on  the  fortifications 
at  Jackson,  Tennessee.  The  Yanks  were  coming  there 
every  day,  would  make  the  two  housemaids  (negroes)  go 
in  the  parlor,  sit  there  and  amuse  them,  insist  on  their 
playing  on  the  piano  and  singing  and  order  my  mother 
and  sisters  to  cook  their  meals.  I  went  to  bed — but  tired 
and  sleepy  as  I  thought  I  was,  could  not  sleep.  I  saw  that 
my  situation  there  rendered  my  parents  miserable,  I  got 
up,  mounted  my  horse  (good  and  faithful  old  Wash  had 
not  carried  him  off  as  father  predicted,  but  gave  him  a 
good  feed  and  rubbing  down)  and  camped  in  the  river 
bottom  some  two  miles  off,  the  remainder  of  the  night.  I 
was  two  days  getting  the  information  about  Jackson  and 
then  I  was  requested  by  General  Jackson  to  hunt  up  Shaw 
and  get  what  information  he  had,  for  he  was  acting  in  the 
capacity  of  spy  and  scout  for  the  7th  Tennessee  Cavalry. 
Shaw's  father  lived  below  Jackson  on  the  river  some 
eighteen  miles.  I  went  there,  and  although  his  father 
knew  me,  when  I  inquired  for  Allen  Shaw  (his  son)  he 
knew  nothing  about  him.  I  felt  satisfied,  he  was  sus- 
picious, and  the  times  justified  him,  you  knew  not  who  to 
trust.  Our  people  were  almost  a  unit  in  their  loyalty  to 
the  Southern  cause,  but  we  had  some  black  sheep.  I 
finally  convinced  Mr.  Shaw  that  I  was  all  right,  and  he 
piloted  me  to  where  Allen  was  camping  on  an  island  in  the 
river  bottom.  As  he  was  very  comfortably  fixed  and 
pretty  secure,  I,  tired  and  worn  out,  concluded  to  spend  a 
day  or  two  with  him  before  returning  to  my  command 
and  especially  when  an  attractive  little  miss  whom  I 


8 


claimed  as  a  sweetheart  was  living  near.  My  comrade 
proposed  we  would  go  to  Captain  Jones1 '  for  supper.  Be- 
fore going  he  took  the  precaution  of  sending  a  friend  to 
notify  Mrs.  Jones  we  would  be  there  for  supper  and  also 
to  see  if  the  coast  was  clear.  The  friend  reported  every- 
thing clear  and  Mrs.  Jones  would  be  delighted  for  us  to 
come.  We  went,  but  instead  of  enjoying  the  hospitality 
and  good  supper  at  Captain  Jones'  we  were  suddenly 
taken  in  by  a  company  of  the  2nd  Illinois  Cavalry.  They 
were  on  a  scout  and  became  lost  and  had  gotten  to  Captain 
Jones'  about  ten  minutes  after  our  friend  left.  As  we 
rode  up  to  the  front  of  the  house  I  heard  a  sabre  rattle, 
and  remarked  to  Shaw,  I  did  not  like  that  sound.  He  said, 
"That's  nobody  but  Dan  Jones.  He  is  at  home  on  a  fur- 
lough and  he  has*  a  sabre  and  knowing  we  were  coming  to 
supper  he  has  rattled  it  to  see  us  run."  I  remarked  I 
didn't  like  such  jokes.  We  dismounted  and  as  we  were 
hitching  our  horses  to  the  palings  a  half  dozen  rifles  were 
thrust  over  the  palings  within  six  inches  of  our  heads  de- 
manding a  surrender,  and  were  asked  the  question  if  we 
were  citizens  or  soldiers.  Shaw  replied,  "Citizen."  But 
for  myself,  how  should  I  answer.  I  had  on  my  uniform,  a 
short  jacket  with  brass  buttons*  and  pants  to  match,  made 
at  home,  with  white  and  black  wool  mixed,  which  gave  it  a 
gray  color.  With  two  navy  sixes  belted  around  me  and  a 
pair  of  C.  S.  spurs,  the  last,  the  only  thing  I  ever  received 
from  C.  S.  government  in  the  way  of  accoutrements ;  but 
over  all  was  a  citizens '  overcoat. 

Lightning  is  pretty  fast,  but  my  thoughts  were  travel- 
ing such  a  gait  lightning  would  have  been  a  slow  coach  in 
comparison.  To  say  citizen  they  might  turn  me  loose,  but 


9 


if  they  should  search  me  and  carry  me  to  the  light,  I 
would  be  in  a  dilemma.  To  say  soldier  with  that  overcoat 
on  and  knowing  my  errand,  and  being  captured  with  one 
they  had  been  hunting  and  having  an  inkling  of  his  busi- 
ness with  the  heavy  reward  for  him  dead  or  alive,  made 
it  look  more  than  a  dilemma.  Yet  with  it  all  I  had  to 
answer  promptly  or  there  would  be  suspicion  created.  I 
fortunately  thought  of  the  admonition  my  old  school 
teacher  so  often  gave  us  boys  at  school.  "In  all  things  be 
honest  and  truthful. ' '  I  answered, ' '  Soldier. ' '  "  Are  you 
armed "?  "Yes."  I  started  to  lower  my  hands.  (I  was 
in  the  act  of  hitching  my  horse  when  captured).  "Hold 
your  hands  still. ' '  They  sent  one  to  disarm  me,  after  un- 
buckling my  belt  and  securing  the  pistols  he  ran  his  hands 
through  my  pockets.  I  had  about  $400.00  in  my  pocket,  a 
mixed  lot,  gold,  greenback  and  Confederate,  given  me  by 
the  parents  of  the  boys  in  my  command.  I  said  to  him 
when  he  touched  the  money,  you  are  not  going  to  rob  me. 
He  said  he  was  no  robber,  but  would  take  my  knife.  After 
he  did  not  take  my  money,  I  felt  buoyed  up. 

They  were  pretty  clever  fellows,  if  they  were  Yanks. 
The  Captain  gave  an  order  to  mount.  I  spoke  up  quick  in 
a  heartbroken  and  much  disappointed  tone,  "My  God, 
Captain,  won't  you  let  a  poor  hungry  fellow  get  his  sup- 
per, and  more  than  that  won't  you  let  him  just  get  one 
glance  or  say  one  word  to  his  sweetheart?" 

They  had  eaten  the  supper  that  was  prepared  for  us.  I 
told  him  it  looked  cruel  and  bad  for  him  to  rob  me  of  all. 
The  fellow  that  searched  me  plead  for  me  and  the  Captain 
finally  consented.  Captain  Jones*,  Mrs.  Jones  and  daugh- 
ter (the  sweetheart)  were  on  the  gallery  hearing  all  I  had 


10 

to  say.  They  have  told  me  since  the  unpleasantness  was 
over  (since  the  war)  how  terrible  were  their  feelings. 
They  knew  if  we  had  any  chance  to  escape  we  wonld  un- 
dertake it  and  what  wonld  be  the  certain  result,  would  be 
shot  down  in  their  house.  Our  captors  took  the  precau- 
tion to  separate  us  as  we  were  marched  into  the  house, 
placing  Shaw  in  front  and  myself  about  middle  way  the 
line.  After  reaching  the  dining-room  we  were  seated  at 
the  table  and  the  Yanks  began  to  wait  on  us.  I  protested, 
told  them  I  was  not  accustomed  to  such  waiters,  for 
heaven's  sake  let  my  sweetheart  and  her  mother  attend  to 
the  table.  They  good  nauredly  acceded  to  my  request. 
After  supper  we  started  for  Jackson.  Our  captors  did  not 
know  the  way,  but  halted  at  a  house  and  impressed  an  old 
citizen  as  pilot.  In  sympathy  for  the  old  man,  whom  I 
knew  well,  I  called  to  the  Captain,  ' '  Let  the  old  man  stay 
in  bed/'  I  knew  the  way  and  wanted  to  go  to  Jackson 
anyway  and  I  could  pilot  him.  He  (the  Captain)  re- 
marked, "I  don't  want  your  kind  of  pilots."  Getting  to 
Jackson  about  1  o  'clock  A.  M.  we  were  marched  into  the 
Court  House,  at  that  time  used  as  a  prison.  In  there  we 
found  about  twenty  prisoners,  but  did  not  know  any  of 
them.  Some  were  dressed  as  citizens  and  others  as  Con- 
federate soldiers. 

Since  our  capture  Shaw  and  myself  had  not  been  able 
to  exchange  a  word,  so  we  soon  got  together  in  the  center 
of  the  large  room,  to  be  as  far  away  from  every  one  as  we 
could  get.  We  commenced  concocting  stories  of  who  we 
might  be  or  anything  for  our  good.  Shaw  was  quite  un- 
easy, afraid  they  (the  Federals)  would  find  out  who  he 
was.   I  was  not  so  troubled  as  I  claimed  to  be  a  soldier 


11 


and  with  the  overcoat  off  looked  like  one.  We  would  con- 
coct one  story,  pick  it  to  pieces,  form  another  and  do  the 
same  with  it.  We  were  thns  planning  and  scheming  for 
some  little  time  when  one  of  the  prisoners  in  Confederate 
garb  approached  us  and  asked  who  we  were.  I  replied, 
"  Just  boys."  "Oh,  that  is  all  right,  you  don't  know  who 
may  be  talking  to  you.  It's  best  to  be  on  your  guard,  but 
I  will  tell  you  something.  I  have  been  here  two  weeks  and 
this  is  the  first  time  it  has  been  so  since  I  have  been  here. 
They  (Federals)  have  some  one  here  they  propose  to 
keep."  What  is  it"?  I  asked.  He  replied,  "Don't  you 
see  the  guards  walking  the  walls  of  the  rooms,  and  the 
guards  are  doubled  at  the  door."  Of  course  we  noticed 
that  shortly  after  we  were  incarcerated,  but  thought  it 
was'  usual  and  indicated  no  more  than  a  safe  and  strict 
guard. 

That  information  was  a  bombshell  exploded  in  our 
midst ;  we  both  felt  sure  they  had  been  informed  by  some 
traitor  who  Shaw  was.  We  continued  this  planning  and 
concocting  stories,  to  be  picked  to  pieces,  up  to  8  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  when  a  guard  came  in  and  carried  me  into 
another  room  (the  room  now  occupied  by  the  trustee) 
where  I  found  three  officers  seated  behind  a  table.  One  of 
the  officers  inquired  of  me  if  I  was  one  of  the  prisoners 
brought  in  last  night.  I  replied  I  was.  He  said,  "You 
claim  to  be  a  soldier,  don't  you  know  when  a  soldier  is 
captured  in  citizen's  dress  in  the  enemies'  line  he  is  re- 
garded as  a  spy"!  Another  bombshell  in  camp.  It  was 
not  Shaw  in  jeopardy  and  had  been  recognized  as  a  spy, 
it  was  not  Shaw  for  whom  the  guards  were  walking  the 
walls  of  the  court  room,  it  was  not  Shaw  for  whose  safe- 


12 


keeping  the  guards  had  been  doubled  at  the  door.  It  was 
the  one  who  felt  somewhat  easy  and  placid,  in  that  he  had 
followed  his  old  school  teacher's  advice  in  answering  a 
question  "truthful  and  honest/ ' 

For  the  nonce  the  old  teacher  and  his  advice  will  take  a 
back  seat  and  King  Ananias  and  his  cohorts  will  step  to 
the  front.  I  had  made  a  plan  for  myself,  my  whole  bent 
and  energies  were  for  the  protection  of  my  comrade.  A 
stick  of  dynamite  would  have  been  a  lame  plaything  to  me 
at  that  moment,  my  mind  in  its  mad  race  for  some  sane 
and  snre  plan  of  escape  from  my  dangerous  position,  out- 
stripped the  lightning  in  its  vivid  flash. 

My  plan  was  formed  on  the  instant.  I  would  play  the 
ignorant,  poor  country  lad  who  had  been  forced  away 
from  home  into  the  Confederate  Army,  by  the  conscrip- 
tion act.  I  replied  to  the  Major  who  addressed  me,  I 
didnt'  know  what  he  called  spy.  My  name  is  not  Spy,  but 
Bill  Witherspoon.  Pa  and  Ma  are  poor  folks  and  I  am 
the  only  child  they  have  got.  The  major  was  determined 
I  should  know  what  a  spy  was,  so  he  repeated,  one  who 
claims  to  be  a  soldier  and  is  caught  in  the  enemies '  line  in 
citizen's  dress.  I  didn't  know  anything  about  that,  I  was 
caught  at  home.  I  was  equally  determined  the  Major 
should  know  I  was  a  poor,  ignorant  boy.  I  repeated,  "Pa 
and  Ma  are  poor  folks  and  I  am  the  only  child.  Pa  didn't 
want  me  to  join  the  army,  said  he  didn't  know  what  it's 
for,  but  the  rich  folks  kept  after  him  to  let  me  go  and 
they  would  take  care  of  him  and  Ma,  and  they  (the  rich 
folks)  told  him  I  would  have  to  go  anyway,  I  would  be 
'scripted.'  So  Pa  said  to  me,  'Will,  you  had  better  go,  I 
don't  want  you  to  go,  and  they  (the  rich  folks)  say  they 


13 


will  take  good  care  of  us.'  So  I  took  old  Charley,  the  only 
horse  Pa's  got,  and  joined  the  army. ' '  The  Major  wanted 
to  know  how  come  me  to  be  here  and  where  was  my  com- 
mand. I  told  him  the  command  was  near  Holly  Springs, 
Mississippi,  and  I  had  come  home  because,  since  you  all 
have  been  here,  the  rich  folks  have  quit  taking  care  of  Pa 
and  Ma.  So  I  took  old  Charley,  he  is  a  mighty  good  plow 
horse  and  all  the  horse  Pa's  got,  and  I  want  you  to  turn 
me  loose  and  let  me  have  old  Charley  to  go  home  and  plow. 
The  major  wanted  to  know  if  I  would  not  be  satisfied  to 
get  loose  myself  and  leave  Charley.  I  told  him  "No,  Pa 
and  Ma  are  poor  and  old  Charley  is  nothing  but  a  good 
plow  horse,  and  I  wanted  old  Charley  to  make  a  living  for 
Pa  and  Ma."  The  Major  wanted  to  know  if  I  knew  what 
was  the  cause  of  the  war.  I  told  him  no,  I  couldn't  read 
much  and  that  Pa  said  he  heard  it  was  a  rich  man's  war 
and  a  poor  man's  fight.  The  Major  wanted  to  know  who 
Shaw  was  and  how  it  was  we  were  together.  I  replied, 
"He  was  Dr.  Allen  (Allen  is  Shaw's  given  name)  a  young 
'sorter'  sickly  doctor.  I  met  him  in  the  road  near  where 
we  were  caught  and  he  told  me  old  Granny  was  mighty 
sick.  "Don't  you  know  old  Granny"?  I  asked  the  major. 
With  that  question  the  officers  clapped  their  hands, 
stamped  with  their  feet  and  bnrsted  out  in  a  big  Haw! 
Haw!  They  had  been  before  very  much  amused  at  my 
ignorant  and  uncouth  ways.  The  more  they  laughed,  the 
better  I  felt.  If  I  could  keep  up  their  hilarity  I  would 
win  out. 

I  was  asked  what  did  Jeff  Davis  and  the  Confederate 
government  give  me  when  I  joined  the  army.  I  was 
standing  in  front  of  the  table  they  were  sitting  behind,  I 


14 


whirled  around  and  placed  my  toe  on  the  table,  pointed  to 
the  pair  of  C.  S.  spurs  I  had  on.  That  brought  forth  an- 
other hearty  cheer  and  laugh.  They  wanted  to  know 
where  my  clothes  came  from.  I  said,  "Ma  she  mixed 
white  and  black  wool,  carded,  spun  and  wove  it.  Ma 
makes  all  our  clothes,  and  old  Granny  was  a  good  weaver 
too."  I  said.  The  Major  said,  "You  seem  to  think  a 
great  deal  of  ' Granny."?  "Yes,"  I  replied,  "I  love  her 
for  she  grannied  me  when  I  came  in  this  world."  An- 
other big  laugh.  As  serious  as  a  judge  would  be  in  pro- 
nouncing a  death  sentence,  I  asked  them  again  if  they  did 
not  know,  or  had  not  heard  of  old  Granny.  I  seemed  to 
be  simply  astonished  that  everybody  who  was  anybody 
did  not  know  or  had  not  heard  of  old  Granny.  After  they 
had  gotten  through  laughing,  one  of  the  officers  re- 
marked, "I  believe  he  is  a  good  boy  and  will  go  home  and 
take  care  of  his  Pa  and  Ma."  I  said  that  was  just  what  I 
was  going  to  do,  but  they  must  let  me  have  old  Charley. 
I  seemingly  took  it  for  granted  they  had  nothing  to  do  but 
to  turn  me  loose  and  give  me  old  Charley. 

I  was  then  sent  back  into  the  prison  room.  I  went  im- 
mediately to  Shaw  and  told  him  what  had  happened.  For- 
tunately they  were  about  fifteen  minutes  in  sending  for 
Shaw.  I  suppose  they  wanted  to  get  through  with  the 
jocular  condition  I  left  them  in,  before  they  would  be  pre- 
pared to  try  another  prisoner. 

Shaw  was  sent  for,  told  them  his  name  was  Allen,  a 
young  doctor,  who  practiced  in  the  neighborhood  where 
we  were  captured.  That  he  met  me  in  the  road  and  told 
me  about  an  old  midwife  who  was  very  sick,  for  he  knew 
I  thought  a  great  deal  of  her  and  he  was  on  his  way  there 


15 


and  I  concluded  to  go  with  him.  He  stopped  at  a  neigh- 
bor's to  get  supper  when  your  men  picked  us  up.  He 
thought  he  would  not  have  been  molested  for  being  caught 
in  the  company  of  this  poor  boy  who  belonged  to  the  army. 
He  told  them  my  parents  were  old  and  poor,  that  I  was 
the  only  child  and  they  necessarily  looked  to  me  for  sup- 
port, and  he  thought  from  the  surroundings  and  the  way 
I  talked  to  him  I  was  done  with  soldiering. 

He  was  asked  if  he  had  ever  taken  the  oath. 

It  was  required  of  all  the  citizens  in  the  South  where 
the  Yanks  had  a  foothold,  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to 
the  TJ.  S.  government.  But  there  were  some  who  would 
not,  my  father  among  that  number.  He  was  imprisoned 
for  six  weeks  and  through  the  kindness  of  General  Logan 
was  released.  He  was  sent  to  prison  by  General  Sullivan 
for  refusing  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  U.  S. 
government.  He  was  transferred  to  another  prison 
where  General  John  A.  Logan  was  in  command.  He  told 
General  Logan  he  had  seven  boys,  five  in  the  Confederate 
army,  and  to  take  an  oath  that  he  would  not  give  aid  or 
assistance  to  one  of  those  boys  if  he  needed  it,  he  would 
rot  in  prison  first.  Logan  replied,  "I  would  not  have  any 
confidence  in  a  man  that  would  take  it, ' '  and  set  him  free. 

Shaw  answered  "No.  I  live  twenty  miles  from  here, 
am  a  Southern  raised  man.  My  health  is  too  delicate  to 
be  in  the  army.  I  don't  know  that  I  would  have  come  all 
the  way  here  to  take  the  oath,  but  since  you  have  me  here, 
and  require  it  of  me  I  don't  object.  They  administered 
the  oath  and  told  him  he  was  free,  but  did  not  offer  him 
his  horse.  He  was  too  overjoyed  to  think  about  his  horse, 
and  he  had  a  good  one.   When  Shaw  came  back  in  the 


16 


prison  smiling  and  said  he  was  free  it  made  me  feel  glad, 
although  I  was  not  out  of  their  clutches.  I  was  imme- 
diately carried  back  to  the  trial  room  and  whom  should  I 
see  sitting  behind  that  table  with  the  three  majors  but  my 
father's  lawyer,  a  prominent  citizen  of  Jackson,  who  well 
knew  every  word  I  had  said  was  a  lie  of  the  whole  cloth. 
Another  bombshell,  would  they  never  cease  coming.  I 
had  managed  the  others,  I  will  manage  this,  although  it 
appeared  larger  and  more  serious  than  the  others.  My 
heart  all  but  leaped  in  my  mouth,  but  I  went  running  up 
to  the  lawyer,  called  him  by  name  and  said,  "Donf  you 
know  all  I  have  said  to  these  men  is  true.  Pa  and  Ma  are 
poor  folks,  and  I  am  their  only  child.  The  rich  folks 
promised  to  take  care  of  Pa  and  Ma  and  they  are  not  do- 
ing it  and  that  is  why  I  went  into  the  army  and  it  is  why 
I  am  leaving  it,  and  here  at  home. ' '  He  said, ' 'Yes,  Billy, 
I  know  it  all  to  be  true."  I  turned  upon  the  majors  in  a 
second,  ' '  Since  he  tells  you  all  I  have  said  is  true,  give 
me  old  Charley  and  let  me  go  home. ' '  They  assented.  I 
asked  if  they  had  given  the  doctor  (Shaw)  his  horse. 
"No,"  they  replied.  "Well,  you  must  give  the  doctor  his 
horse  for  it  is  a  long  ways  to  old  Granny's1,  and  she  will 
die  if  the  doctor  don't  get  there  quick."  For  my  seem- 
ingly great  love  for  old  Granny  and  anxiety  for  her 
health,  the  Majors  with  a  laugh  said  the  doctor  should 
have  his  horse  too,  and  they  hoped  the  next  time  they 
heard  from  Granny  she  would  be  much  improved,  as  she 
had,  certainly,  two  good  friends  in  myself  and  the  doctor. 
They  gave  me  an  order  for  our  horses',  but  to  find  them 
it  was  like  the  old  proverbial  saying  of  "finding  a  needle 
in  a  haystack. "  In  Jackson  with  its  20,000  or  more  troops 


17 


it  would  be  difficult  to  locate  a  scouting  party  that  had 
come  in  late  in  the  night  before.  They  said  they  did  not 
know  where  I  would  find  them.  Having  the  order  I  would 
undertake  it.  It  was  a  forlorn  hope.  If  successful  and 
mounted  on  our  good  horses,  our  chances  of  escape  would 
be  doubly  sure.  To  attempt  to  walk  away  we  could  have 
been  picked  up  easily  by  any  kind  of  a  scouting  party. 
And  besides  we  both  knew  how  to  ride  and  were  not  much 
on  walking.  As  I  was  going  in  to  stand  my  second  trial 
and  Shaw  was  gathering  up  his  belongings  in  the  prison 
room,  I  whispered  him  to  wait  a  while  near  the  Court 
House  and  see  what  would  be  my  fate,  as  I  thought  it 
would  be  one  way  or  the  other  shortly.  He  did  so,  and 
when  I  was  adjudged  a  good  boy  and  would  go  home  and 
plow  old  Charley  and  quit  soldiering  since  Jeff  Davis 
was  so  chary  in  his  equipment  to  his  soldiers,  as  he  had 
given  me  only  a  cheap  pair  of  spurs,  which  their  men 
would  be  ashamed  to  wear.  One  of  the  Majors  jocularly 
remarked  he  had  heard  of  the  "Georgia  uniform"  and  if 
I  had  had  a  necktie  in  addition  to  my  spurs  given  to  me, 
minus  what  my  mother  gave,  I  would  have  had  a  com- 
plete "Georgia  uniform." 

The  sneers  and  squibs  they  indulged  in  at  the  poverty 
of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  were  a  little  stinging,  but 
prudence  was  the  better  part  of  valor  at  that  particular 
time,  and  acting  the  poor,  ignorant  and  unlettered  boy  of 
the  South,  their  jibes  and  sneers  fell  as  harmlessly  as 
water  on  a  duck's  back.  Finding  Shaw  in  front  of  the 
Court  House  and  showing  him  the  order  for  our  horses, 
he  did  not  think  it  practicable  to  endeavor  to  get  them 
and  besides  it  would  be  dangerous.  ' 1  The  quicker  we  get 


18 


out  of  here  the  better, ' '  I  demurred.  It  was  not  old  Char- 
ley, the  good  plow  horse,  but  Charley  the  Kentucky  thor- 
oughbred, that  cost  me  $250.00  and  had  never  looked 
through  a  collar,  I  was  so  anxious  to  get,  not  only  for  his 
particular  value,  at  that  time,  but  might  be  in  the  future, 
as  such  horses  were  scarce  in  Dixie.  Charley  fully  sus- 
tained the  estimate  I  placed  upon  him,  for  at  the  surren- 
der of  Gainesville,  Alabama,  May  11,  1865,  we  were  both 
honorably  paroled.  He  had  the  help  of  two  other  good 
horses.  It  would  be  saying  too  much  of  a  horse,  however 
good,  to  say  he  was  able  to  endure  the  peregrinations  of 
the  wizard  of  the  saddle  four  years. 

Shaw  was  right,  we  encountered  some  risk  the  longer 
we  tarried  in  Jackson.  But  I  was  so  adverse  to  the  foot- 
ing process,  I  insisted  we  should  make  an  effort  and  went 
back  in  the  trial  room  to  beg  of  the  Majors  if  they  could 
not  possibly  find  out  where  the  party  who  captured  us 
might  be.  I  was  so  anxious  the  doctor  should  get  his 
horse  for  Granny's  benefit.  They  said  " No."  But  while 
pleading  with  the  Majors,  I  saw,  drawing  water  at  the  old 
well  northeast  of  the  Court  House,  the  man  who  rode  at 
my  side  (my  bodyguard)  from  Captain  Jones '  to  Jackson. 
I  remarked  to  the  Major,  there  is  one  of  the  men  at  the 
well.  He  directed  me  to  bring  him  in.  I  did  so,  he  was 
asked  if  he  was  one  of  the  party  that  brought  in  two  pris- 
oners last  night.  ' 1  This, ' '  pointing  to  me,  1 ' one  of  them" f 
He  said  "Yes."  "Well,  we  have  found  them  to  be  pretty 
clever  fellows  and  have  turned  them  loose,  with  an  order 
for  their  horses.  Let  them  have  them. ' ' 

One  happy  boy  I  was.  My  Yankee  partner  on  that  ride 
of  twenty  miles  the  night  before  was  glad  too,  so  he  ex- 


19 


pressed  himself.  I  believed  him  then  and  so  do  now  more 
than  forty-five  years  afterwards. 

We  Southerners  generally  term  all  in  the  Federal  army 
Yankees,  bnt  the  troops  of  the  Central  States,  Illinois1,  In- 
diana, etc.,  were  as  different  from  the  genuine  New  Eng- 
land Yank  as  the  noon  day  sun  from  midnight.  A  great 
many  of  the  first  settlers  in  those  States  were  from  the 
South,  for  instance,  Lincoln  from  Kentucky.  I  took  my 
Yankee  partner  by  the  arm,  walked  out  of  the  Court 
House.  Outside  we  found  Shaw,  who  gathered  our  Yank 
friend  by  the  other  arm.  We  went  that  way  through  town 
up  to  the  old  Manassas  house,  one  mile.  We  were  a  jolly 
set.  I  passed  a  couple  of  my  neighbors,  Joe  Henning  and 
Permenia  Transou,  on  the  street.  I  did  not  know  them, 
they  were  entire  strangers,  yet  a  few  days  before,  know- 
ing them  to  be  true  to  the  South,  was  getting  what  infor- 
mation they  possessed  in  regard  to  Jackson. 

Both  told  me  afterwards  they  were  completely  dumb- 
founded, didn't  know  what  to  think.  The  day  before  giv- 
ing me  what  news  they  had,  and  the  next  in  Jackson,  arm 
in  arm  with  a  Yank,  apparently  contented  and  happy,  if 
so,  they  had  said  too  much. 

The  scouting  party,  with  our  horses  were  encamped  just 
back  of  the  Manassas  house.  In  passing  in  front  of  the 
saloon  at  the  hotel,  seeing  the  fancy  bottles  on  the  shelf 
behind  the  bar  filled  with  all  kinds  of  drinks,  wine,  whis- 
keys and  brandies,  that  give  cheer  to  the  consolate  and 
disconsolate,  I  proposed  to  treat.  My  Yank  friend  and 
Shaw  accepted.  But  no  sooner  was  the  proposal  offered 
than  I  thought  of  the  dangerous  position  I  had  placed  my- 
self, the  $400.00  I  had  in  trust  for  the  boys  in  my  com- 


20 


mand  was  in  one  package  and  some  Confederate  money 
loose  in  my  pockets.  Confederate  money  would  not  pay 
for  drinks  at  a  Yankee  bar  and  to  have  to  pull  that  $400.00 
out  to  get  a  greenback  bill  would  have  looked  awkward 
and  suspicious  for  a  poor,  ignorant  country  boy  to  have. 
I  felt  like  sinking  to  the  ground.  With  my  escape  about 
accomplished  from  a  military  prison  or  worse,  the  fate  of 
a  spy,  both  for  my  comrade  and  self,  to  let  an  insatiate 
appetite  for  drink  ruin  all.  I  was  in  that  miserable  situa- 
tion in  mind  and  body.  As  we  were  just  entering  the  bar- 
room, we  met  the  Captain  of  the  squad.  Our  Yankee 
friend  said  to  him,  "Here  are  our  boys,  they  are  all  right 
and  I  have  an  order  for  you  to  give  them  their  horses. 
Johnnie  (all  Reb's  are  Johnnies  with  the  Yanks)  is  going 
to  treat.  Will  you  join  us?"  "Yes.  But  Johnnie  can't 
treat,  I  will  do  that  myself,  for  I  brought  him  here." 
Well,  I  could  have  shouted  as  lustily  as  any  good  old 
Methodist  sister,  "Glory  Hallelujah!"  but  for  the  en- 
vironments, a  bar-room  would  have  been  a  little  out  of  the 
usual  order,  but  to  say  I  felt  good  and  happy  don't  half 
express  my  feeling.  The  sudden  transition  from  a  miser- 
able, uneasy  condition  to  one  of  security,  was  a  joy  inde- 
scribable. After  the  treat  of  the  Captain,  we  went  back 
of  the  hotel  and  there  we  found  the  remainder  of  the 
scouting  party  and  our  horses.  As  I  had  just  committed 
a  foolish  and  indiscreet  act,  in  proposing  to  treat,  and  by 
an  accident  escaped  probably  an  exposure,  it  seems  I  was 
bound  to  commit  another  equally  as  much  so.  The  Yanks 
were  playing  cards,  being  a  good  player  myself,  I  asked 
one  of  the  Yanks  to  give  me  his  hand,  I  would  show  him 
what  a  Johnnie  could  do.    My  idea  was  to  get  back  my 


21 


pistols.  Shaw  was  standing  by  but  on  "tentre  hooks" 
kept  saying  "Come  on  Bill."  I  told  them  I  was  going 
home  to  stay  there  and  as  they  did  not  particularly  need 
the  pistols,  could  they  not  let  me  have  them?  "Oh!  no, 
Johnnie,  you  might  change  your  notion.  We  will  trade 
spurs  with  you."  I  got  the  best  they  had.  Wanted  to 
send  mine  home  as  souvenirs.  We  mounted  our  horses. 
Shaw  remarked,  "Now  Bill,  what  other  fool  thing  are  you 
going  to  do  before  getting  out  of  this  place  "  1  "  Maybe  I 
have  acted  the  fool,"  I  replied,  "but  for  my  fool  deeds  we 
would  be  tramping  out  of  here  foot-back."  We  rode 
through  town  leisurely,  when  reaching  the  timber  land 
joining  the  bottom,  we  traveled  pretty  fast  until  we  got 
into  the  cane.  It  was  then  we  could  draw  a  good  long 
breath.  We  were  safe.  Encamped  on  Shaw's  island  that 
night,  I  started  before  day  for  my  command  at  Cold 
Water.  It  was  safer  traveling  in  the  night  than  day  time. 
I  reached  Dupree's  Landing  on  the  Hatchie  River  just  as 
the  sun  was  rising,  preferred  crossing  on  a  boat  than 
swimming  the  river,  if  possible.  Saw  a  man  wildly  mo- 
tioning with  his  arm  in  front  of  Dupree's  house,  could  not 
understand  whether  he  wanted  me  to  come  on  or  go  back. 
But  as  the  country  behind  me  was  full  of  Yankee  scouting 
parties,  it  would  never  do  for  the  ignorant,  unlettered  and 
only  child  of  poor  folks,  who  was  expected  to  be  at  home 
plowing  old  Charley,  to  be  caught  so  soon  on  his  way  back 
to  the  army  with  a  good  pair  of  pistols  belted  around  him, 
mounted  on  a  noble  Kentucky  thoroughbred.  It  would 
indeed  have  been  short-shrift  with  the  only  child.  So  I 
tickled  Charley  in  the  sides  with  my  spurs,  who  responded 
in  a  full  gallop.  We  were  soon  upon  the  man  gesticulat- 


22 


ing,  who  turned  out  to  be  Mr.  Dupree.  He  said,  "My 
house  is  full  of  Yankees."  The  boat  was  near  in  a  run, 
he  went  with  me  and  we  were  soon  pulling  our  way  across. 
We  were  both  expecting  to  hear  a  bullet  whizzing,  but 
fortunately  they  were  all  asleep  or  fearful  I  was  only  a 
forerunner  of  others  like  me  somewhere  near.  He  told 
me  afterwards  they  had  nothing  to  say  when  he  got  back 
to  the  house,  but  seemed  to  be  somewhat  nervous  and 
anxious  for  an  early  breakfast.  One  remarked  he  thought 
he  heard  a  horse  galloping.  * 1  It  was  a  boy  who  was  going 
across  the  river  for  a  doctor,' '  Mr.  Dupree  replied  coolly. 

From  there  on  to  my  command  the  way  was  practically 
clear.  I  gave  General  Jackson  what  information  I  had 
gathered.  He  said  to  me,  "You  are  talking  like  you  had 
been  in  Jackson. ' '  I  said  it  was  true,  but  I  was  honored 
by  an  escort  of  thirty  men  of  the  2nd  Illinois  Cavalry.  He 
said  he  was  uneasy  about  me,  but  was  glad  everything 
turned  out  well,  was  heartily  amused  at  the  poor  boy's 
trick  I  played  upon  the  court  martial,  but  astonished  at 
the  "cheek  by  jowl"  position  of  the  prominent  lawyer 
with  the  majors. 

This  scout  was  more  than  likely  in  anticipation  of  the 
Armstrong  raid  in  West  Tennessee,  for  shortly  after- 
wards, Jackson's  brigade  was  joined  by  Armstrong's, 
making  a  force  of  3000  men,  which  I  believe  to  be  a  low 
estimate.  What  regiments  composed  Armstrong's  bri- 
gade I  do  not  know,  but  on  that  raid  it  was  generally 
thought  by  the  boys  in  Jackson's  it  was  as  strong  or 
stronger  than  ours.  We  had  a  skirmish  at  Toones,  fol- 
lowing up  the  I.  C.  railroad,  at  Medon  late  in  the  day  an- 
other.  These  skirmishes  were  with  the  small  guards  sta- 


23 


tioned  at  those  places,  which  amounted  to  not  much  dam- 
age to  either  side.  Leaving  Medon  about  sundown,  we 
turned  our  course  towards  Denmark  and  went  into  camp. 
My  regiment,  7th  Tennessee,  was  encamped  near  a  corn- 
field, was  without  rations  for  man  or  beast.  How  differ- 
ent when  following  Forrest  we  often  started  without 
either,  but  Forrest  knew  where  Uncle  Sam  had  a  bountiful 
supply  and  of  the  best,  and  at  his  disposal  when  giving 
the  proper  "pass-word."  It  was  sometimes,  all  hands 
"Charge"  or  "Surrender."  One  or  the  other  rarely 
failed.  But  under  West  Point  tactics  we  marched  all  day 
without  rations  for  the  men  or  provender  for  the  horses. 
At  a  time,  1862,  when  the  whole  country  was  full  of  both. 
We  were  ordered  not  to  make  any  big  fires,  we  gathered 
the  brush  and  started  our  fires,  not  that  it  was  cold,  but 
the  corn  in  the  field  was  getting  hard,  September  1st,  and 
we  wanted  to  make  embers  and  ashes  to  roast  the  corn. 
Our  horses  fared  well  and  we  did  not  grumble,  like  philos- 
ophers it  was  what  would  happen  sometimes  in  a  soldier's 
life.  Our  supper,  exclusively  a  parched  corn  diet,  break- 
fast ditto.  Early  we  wounted  "en  route"  to  Denmark. 
Seventh  Tennessee  was  in  the  rear,  one  company  had  been 
left  near  Medon  on  picket.  We  entered  a  lane,  a  rail  fence 
on  each  side  of  the  road,  at  that  time  usual  before  the  day 
of  wire.  Heard  some  firing  in  front  with  an  occasional 
boom  of  cannon.  We  were  ordered  to  dismount,  throw 
every  other  lock  of  the  fence,  mounted  again,  went  but  a 
short  distance,  ordered  to  load,  were  armed  with  the  dou- 
ble-barreled shotguns  that  we  formerly  shot  squirrels, 
rabbits  and  the  wild  game  that  was  common  to  the  coun- 
try.  Now  it  was  for  different  game,  a  two-legged  biped, 


2-1 

who  had  come  down  in  our  Southland,  regarding  us*  as 
barbarians,  one  type  removed  from  the  wild  horde  of 
Aborigines  that  once  roamed  our  country,  teaching  what 
constituted  a  higher  civilization,  by  entering  our  homes, 
abusing  and  insulting  those  we  had  left  at  home,  unable 
by  the  decree  of  nature,  unable  on  account  of  sex  and  age 
(our  mothers,  daughters,  sisters,  and  sweethearts,  our 
fathers  decrepid  with  age  and  boys  too  young)  to  shoulder 
the  musket  to  defend  what  is  dearer  and  first  in  the  heart 
of  every  true  citizen,  his  home.  As  the  game  we  were  to 
meet  was  different,  so  was  the  load,  rammed  down  those 
shotguns,  buck  and  ball,  an  ounce  ball  and  three  buckshot. 
Although  an  ordinary  hunting  weapon,  it  did  terrible  exe- 
cution at  close  quarters.  After  loading  we  took  the  walk, 
shortly  ordered  to  the  trot,  then  to  the  gallop.  The  firing 
in  front  became  more  prominent  and  frequent.  We  came 
upon  General  Armstrong  sitting  on  his  horse,  near  the 
mouth  of  the  now  famous  Britton  lane.  The  regiment, 
save  my  company  and  Company  F  at  Medon,  with  General 
Jackson  at  its  head,  was  ordered  to  the  right,  dismount 
and  charge  the  enemy.  That  was  through  a  cornfield,  my 
company  halted  by  General  Armstrong.  Sitting  there  on 
our  horses,  it  was  but  a  few  minutes  the  enemy,  not  far 
from  the  west  end  of  that  short  lane,  espied  us,  began  to 
fire  on  us  with  artillery.  Their  first  shots  went  above  the 
black-jacks  we  were  under,  the  next  a  little  lower,  too 
much  so  to  be  comfortable. 

General  Armstrong  ordered  us  to  form  fours  and 
charge.  Now  an  explanation  of  the  position,  the  point 
where  we  charged  from  was  north  not  more  than  200 
yards  from  the  lane.    The  road  turned  south  across  a 


V.  Y.  COOK 
nmr  loanable. 


25 

pretty  deep  ravine  and  then  np  to  the  lane  going  dne  west 
so  at  the  mouth  of  the  lane  (east  end)  we  made  a  right 
angle.  With  a  yell  we  charged,  going  at  full  gallop.  In 
that  hollow,  from  some  inexplainable  cause,  the  rear  of 
the  company,  became  tangled.  Those  in  front,  twenty  in 
number,  continued  on,  turning  into  the  lane.  It  was  an 
ordinary  road  fourteen  feet  in  width  with  a  deep  gulley  on 
either  side  between  the  fence  and  road.  We  were  four 
abreast  in  entering  the  lane,  we  were  in  plain  view  of  the 
artillery  men,  as  they  had  been  shooting  at  us  in  our 
former  position,  as  we  made  the  right  angle  at  the  lane  it 
was  necessary  for  them  to  change  their  pieces  to  do  us 
any  damage.  That  necessity  was  our  safety,  although  it 
required  but  a  short  time,  we  were  too  close  for  them  to 
adjust  the  cannon,  load  and  fire.  As  we  got  fairly  started 
down  the  lane,  we  noticed  they  were  ramming  down  the 
load.  With  a  general  impulse,  that  cannon  had  to  be 
reached  before  it  could  be  fired.  We  drove  in  our  spurs 
and  in  a  mad  bound  were  upon  them.  It  was  then  and 
there  the  old  much-derided  double-barrel  as  an  army  gun 
done  its  work  perfectly.  In  a  second  of  time,  we  twenty, 
not  one  hurt,  were  all  that  were  left  alive  with  the  two 
brass  cannons.  We  dismounted,  the  smaller  boys,  four  in 
number,  I  being  one  of  them,  holding  horses,  the  others 
divided  eight  to  a  piece.  The  enemy  were  in  the  woods 
southwest,  still  firing  at  us.  The  balls  would  hit  the  can- 
non and  shiver  the  spokes  of  the  wheels.  Yet,  strange  to 
say,  we  did  not  have  a  man  or  a  horse  hurt.  The  boys 
started  off  with  the  pieces,  did  not  go  far,  had  to  stop,  two 
dead  horses  were  lying  across  the  road  and  they  had  be- 
gun the  ascent  of  the  hill.  Noticing  help  was  needed,  high 


26 


private  though  I  was,  I  ordered  one  of  the  holders  to 
mount,  tell  the  others  of  the  company  the  "  monkey  was 
caught,"  for  God's  sake  come  and  help  us.  They  were 
there  in  a  few  moments  and  with  the  dead  horses  rolled 
out  of  the  way,  the  cannons  were  soon  carried  to  the  east 
end  of  the  lane.  As  Company  F,  who  had  been  at  Medon 
on  picket,  rode  up,  we  were  ordered  to  turn  the  artillery 
over  to  them,  mount  our  horses,  and  report  to  Gen.  Arm- 
strong, who  was  sitting  on  his  horse  at  the  same  spot  we 
left  him  on  the  charge.  He  with  a  wave  of  his  hand  and 
lifting  his  cap,  complimented  us  for  the  gallant  action. 
Noticing  the  wounded  and  probably  dead  were  being  car- 
ried to  a  small  log  house  east  I  dismounted  to  go  and  see 
who  had  been  killed  or  wounded,  had  gotten  off  but  a  few 
steps  when  ordered  to  mount.  We  then  turned  north  and 
went  in  a  northwest  course,  leaving  Denmark  two  miles 
south,  crossing  the  Hatchie  Eiver  at  Estinala,  where  we 
encamped  that  night,  paroling  thirty-two  prisoners  the 
following  morning.  Whether  they  (the  Yanks)  paid  any 
attention  to  that  parole  I  consider  very  doubtful.  This  is 
the  extent  of  what  Company  L,  7th  Tennessee  Cavalry, 
did  at  Britton  Lane.  In  about  fifteen  minutes  time  Com- 
pany F  destroyed  the  artillery  (at  least  thought  so), 
spiked  one  piece,  cutting  down  the  wheels  and  throwing 
the  other  in  an  old  well.  Terrible  destruction.  Why  the 
Yanks  had  that  artillery  in  less  than  twenty-four  hours, 
ready  to  destroy  the  young  manhood  of  the  South.  The 
defense  of  its  cause,  why  was  it  so?  When  we  stood  so 
much  in  need  of  it.  We  waged  that  battle  with  all  we 
then  had,  double-barrel  shotguns.  No  doubt  both  Colonel 
Dennis  (Federal)  a  force  1800  infantry  and  two  pieces  of 


27 


artillery  and  General  Armstrong  (Confederate)  with  two 
brigades  of  cavalry  3000  strong,  were  equally  surprised. 
The  Federals  were  whipped  several  times  in  that  fight, 
had  hoisted  several  times  the  white  flag,  certainly  an  in- 
dex of  defeat.  Why  having  that  battlefield  in  less  than 
ten  minutes  after  their  artillery  was  captured  and  not  a 
gun  fired  or  any  demonstration  of  the  enemy  to  recapture 
it.  When,  in  fact,  as  told  by  the  citizens  of  Denmark,  over 
200  of  the  Federals  had  returned  there  and  were  anxious 
to  find  some  one  to  surrender  to.  Some  four  miles  from 
the  fight,  fortunate  for  Armstrong,  they  did  not  go  two 
miles  farther  north,  display  some  pluck  and  have  captured 
Armstrong.  We  were  certainly  on  the  run,  to  say  the 
least,  a  forced  march,  not  halting  or  stopping  until  we 
were  ferried  across  the  Hatchie,  sixteen  miles  distant,  on 
a  ferry  boat.  Where  does  the  blame  lie?  Certainly  not 
with  the  men,  they  carried  out  every  order  and  executed  it 
as  completely  as  the  7th  Tennessee  did. 

When  the  plan  of  erecting  a  monument  to  our  noble 
dead,  lying  there  in  unmarked  graves,  was  agitated  in  the 
newspapers,  heralded  all  over  the  Southland,  there  came 
a  response  from  an  Alabamian,  grateful  that  a  mark  of 
respect  would  be  shown  to  the  sons  of  Alabama  who  had 
fallen  there,  giving  his  version  of  the  battle,  claiming  Ala- 
bama troops  had  captured  the  artillery.  In  a  short  time  a 
Texas  trooper  replied,  4 'My  ' comrade'  from  Alabama  is 
certainly  mistaken,  for  the  Texas  Eegiment  captured  the 
artillery. ' '  All  this  was  a  great  surprise  to  me,  of  the  7th 
Tennessee,  living  within  sixteen  miles  of  the  battle- 
ground, when  I,  one  of  the  twenty  who  captured  it.  I  had 
surely  not  been  in  a  dream  for  more  than  forty-five  years. 


28 


Going  to  Jackson  one  day,  a  short  time  previous  to  laying 
the  corner-stone  and  telling  my  company,  Company  L  of 
the  7th  Tennessee  Cavalry,  captured  that  artillery,  my 
statement  was  met  with  a  counter  statement  that  Captain 
Deupree,  a  professor  at  that  time  in  the  now  Union  Uni- 
versity, of  Pinson  Eegiment,  1st  Mississippi,  read  a  letter 
before  the  John  Ingram  Bivouac  giving  a  history  of  the 
battle,  stating  his  Company  captured  it.  Why  all  this 
seeming  contradiction  about  capturing  two  pieces  of  artil- 
lery in  an  engagement  that  no  history  of  the  Civil  War 
on  either  side  has  thought  of  sufficient  importance  to 
mention.  Strange  will  appear  the  explanation,  will  justi- 
fy the  claim  of  the  Alabamian,  Alabama  did  capture  it; 
will  justify  the  claim  of  the  Texan,  Texas  did  capture  it ; 
will  justify  the  claim  of  the  7th  Tennessee,  Tennessee  did 
capture  it.  On  the  morning  of  laying  the  corner-stone  I 
met  with  Captain  Deupree,  went  over  the  battlefield  to- 
gether, followed  with  twenty  or  more  citizens,  who  knew 
us  both  well,  wanted  to  hear  who  two  old  soldiers,  partici- 
pants in  the  battle,  had  to  say.  In  reaching  the  east  end 
of  the  lane,  Captain  Deupree  remarked,  "  there  was  a 
house  over  there,"  pointing  south  about  twenty  yards.  I 
told  him  I  thought  so  too.  It  was  our  first  visit  to  the 
place  since  the  fight.  We  will  go  and  look  if  there  is  any 
sign  of  a  house  having  been  there.  We  found  the  brick 
bats,  indicating  where  the  chimney  was.  He  remarked, 
"here  stood  the  house,  it  was  enclosed  with  palings,  my 
company  was  over  there,"  pointing  southeast.  "We 
crawled  to  this*  house,  I  (Deupree)  ripped  off  the  palings, 
crawling  through,  and  here  was  a  sweet  potato  patch ;  we 
kept  crawling  on  all  fours  over  there  about  100  yards 


29 


southwest,  when  a  company  of  cavalry  charged  on  the  ar- 
tillery and  captured  it. ' ' 

Captain  Deupree  said  he  did  not  state  in  his  letter  that 
his  Company  had  done  so,  but  said  they  assisted  in  its* 
capture.  Captain  Deupree 's  Company  was  near  enough 
to  render  good  assistance  and  no  doubt  was.  How  could 
it  be  possible  for  so  many  captures  of  that  artillery  and 
some  one  not  be  mistaken.  By  applying  the  mode  so 
many  West  Pointers  make  their  fights,  fighting  their  com- 
mands by  detail,  and  holding  back  a  large  reserve.  The 
paramount  idea,  not  to  be  whipped,  and  routed,  instead 
of  the  Forrest  plan,  when  he  (Forrest)  went  into  action, 
to  win  with  no  thought  of  defeat  and  with  every  man  on 
the  firing  line.  On  Sand  Mountain,  following  Street,  he 
ordered  his  men  tie  their  horses  to  the  bushes  and  every 
man  to  the  charge,  When  remonstrated  by  one  of  the 
men,  we  might  fail,  and  our  horses  captured,  he  replied, 
"If  we  are  whipped,  we'll  not  need  any  horses,' 1  implying 
the  full  determination  to  do  or  die.  Commanders  of  ar- 
mies, like  poets,  are  born,  not  manufactured.  With  a  su- 
perior force  and  men  all  volunteers,  no  substitutes  or 
bounty  jumpers,  springing  from  the  loins  of  sires  and 
grandsires,  the  best  fighting  element  on  the  earth.  What 
did  Armstrong  do,  put  in  a  regiment  at  a  time,  no  more 
than  one-half  of  the  enemy,  charged,  went  through,  hop- 
ing on,  no  more  in  the  fight,  followed  by  another  regiment 
doing  the  same,  until  the  rear  regiment  came  up  and  the 
same  program  followed  out  to  the  letter,  save  we  make  a 
pretense  of  destroying  what  had  cost  the  lives  of  so  many 
good  men,  the  triple  capture  of  two  pieces  of  artillery. 
The  estimate  generally  by  the  members*  of  the  7th  Ten- 


30 


nessee  up  to  the  time  of  erecting  that  monument,  our  total 
loss  not  more  than  ten  or  twelve  killed  and  about  the  same 
number  wounded.  Captain  McNeil,  the  leader  in  erecting 
the  monument,  asked  me  what  I  thought  was  our  total 
loss.  I  replied  as  above  stated.  He  said,  4  4 You  are  far 
wrong."  From  his  investigations'  and  correspondence 
with  the  different  regiments,  our  loss  will  in  killed  and 
wounded  be  near  115.  Is  it  not  shameful  that  our  troops 
were  so  managed  as  to  suffer  a  loss  of  such  magnitude 
with  no  corresponding  good.  What  if  Forrest  had  been 
there,  instead  of  Armstrong.  Colonel  Dennis  would  have 
been  crushed  as  easily  as  an  eggshell,  with  not  probably 
the  loss  of  one-half  a  dozen  men.  Forrest's  and  Stonewall 
Jackson's  mode  of  fighting  was  similar.  An  innovation 
on  military  strategy,  at  that  time,  which  so  excited  the 
wonder  and  admiration  of  the  different  nations  of  the 
world,  sending  their  military  men  here  to  study  their 
mode  and  since  in  the  battles  of  Europe,  has  to  a  great 
extent  been  followed,  particularly  by  Germany  and  Japan. 
One  of  the  Federals  in  that  engagement  from  Illinois  came 
down  several  years  ago  to  go  over  that  battle  ground  and 
was  carried  out  there  by  one  of  the  7th  Tennessee  (Bill 
Campbell)  who  also  was  in  the  fight.  The  Federal  told 
Mr.  Campbell,  "we  were  whipped  badly,  did  our  best  to 
surrender  not  only  once,  but  several  times,  but  you  boys 
seemed  to  think  we  were  not  worth  the  trouble.  We  wend- 
ed our  way  back  to  North  Mississippi  and  then  rested 
from  our  arduous  campaign  in  West  Tennessee."  When 
our  scouts  reported  the  enemy  in  Memphis  were  issuing 
six  or  nine  days '  rations  we  would  be  issued  like  amount, 
as  they  (the  enemy)  marched  in  our  direction,  we  would 


31 


start  south.  Not  by  any  hocus  pocus  (I  would  say  strat- 
egy but  not  deserving  of  that  name)  could  they  get  any 
nearer  to  us. 

Grenada,  Mississippi,  was  our  usual  destination  and  oc- 
curred so  often  that  we  boys  called  it  our  Methodist  Cir- 
cuit, so  similar  to  the  circuit  rider  of  that  church.  The 
exigencies  of  the  South  were  becoming  too  great  to  allow 
of  its  soldiery  playing  circuit  rider.  So  Forrest  took  us 
in  charge,  after  which  when  several  days'  or  more  rations 
were  issued,  it  was  not  from,  but  towards  the  enemy,  we 
marched,  and  often  without  rations.  But  Forrest,  as  I 
have  before  stated,  knew  where  Uncle  Sam  had  them 
stored  away  for  us.  Believing,  too,  that  a  change  of  diet 
would  be  good  for  his  boys,  not  that  we  did  not  have  good 
enough,  but  Uncle  Sam's  was  a  greater  variety  and  of 
something  we  were  deprived  on  account  of  the  strict 
blockade  he  kept  on  the  South 's  ports.  Whether  his  sol- 
diers fared  any  better  than  ours  I  can  not  say,  personally, 
for  the  short  time  I  was  in  his  hands  I  left  before  meal 
time,  but  what  we  boys  got  from  his  commissary  depart- 
ment nolens-volens  was  superb.  Forrest  did  not  confine 
his  demands  on  Uncle  Sam's  commissary  department 
alone,  but  for  arms  and  ammunition.  We  had  early  dis- 
carded the  old  double-barrel,  after  following  a  short  while 
the  fortunes  of  the  "Wizard  of  the  Saddle,  as  obsolete,  took 
up  the  sharp  carbine,  at  that  time  a  splendid,  reliable 
breech-loader  rifle  which  would  kill  1000  yards.  A  Yan- 
kee rifle,  it  demanded  Yankee  ammunition,  after  getting 
the  gun  in  our  hands  and  one  supply  of  cartridges,  it  was 
a  sure  matter  to  get  more. 

I  was  much  amused  at  one  time  going  to  one  of  our 


32 


Beunions,  I  offered  for  sale  my  little  book,  "What  I  saw 
at  Bryce's  Cross  Koads,"  to  a  citizen,  saying,  "I  vouch 
for  all  in  that  book  to  be  true. ' '  He  took  the  book  and  in 
a  few  moments,  beckoning  to  me,  said,  "What  do  you 
mean  when  you  say  Uncle  Sam"  ?  I  replied, ' '  The  United 
States  government."  "You  do  not  mean  to  say  and  for 
it  to  be  true  that  the  United  States  government  furnished 
the  Eebel  Forrest  and  his  men  arms  and  ammunion "  ?  "I 
do."  "How  is  it?  I  was*  a  soldier  in  the  Federal  army 
in  the  Civil  War,  I  do  not  understand  it,  although  not  in 
this  department."  Strictly  a  case  of  "nolens-volens." 
Uncle  Sam  could  give  to  his  boys  willingly,  to  Forrest  and 
his  men  he  would  have  to  give  unwillingly  if  not  other- 
wise. No  difference  in  the  doing  of  the  act,  whether  will- 
ing or  unwilling,  and  that  we  drew  on  Uncle  Sam  for 
more  than  we  could  use.  We  had  your  guns,  necessarily 
we  had  to  have  your  ammunition.  The  light  began  to 
dawn  on  his  obtuse  mind,  when  he  remarked,  ' '  That  For- 
rest was  a  terrible  fellow." 

At  the  Louisville  Eeunion,  in  the  lobby  of  the  Gait 
House,  General  Lyons  of  Kentucky  (who  started  the 
Bryce's  Cross  Eoads  fight)  belonging  to  Forrest's  Cav- 
alry, and  myself  were  discussing  war  topics  and  the  his- 
tories that  had  been  written  of  our  different  battles. 
There  were  a  half  a  dozen  gentlemen  standing  near,  ap- 
parently interested,  in  our  chat.  When  General  Lyons  re- 
marked to  me,  1 1  My  daughters  are  here  in  this  hotel  and 
they  wish  to  see  you,  you  remain  here  until  I  get  back. ' ' 

As  General  Lyons  left  one  of  the  gentlemen  of 
the  group,  above  mentioned,  said  to  me,  "We 
have   been  listening  with   a   good   deal   of  interest 


33 


to  your Js  and  the  General's  talk,"  introducing  himself 
as  a  Lieutenant  Colonel  of  an  Illinois  Cavalry  Begiment 
in  the  Civil  War.  He  said,  "I  am  very  fond  of  reading 
the  histories  on  both  sides,  and  I  see  you  two  are  not  any 
better  pleased  with  your  historians  than  I  am  with  mine. 
In  all  the  battles  I  have  participated  in  our  historians  are 
so  wide  of  the  mark,  as  true  accounts,  that  I  could  not 
realize  in  view  of  what  they  said  and  the  true  facts  as  I 
knew  that  I  was  in  the  fight.  But  there  is  one  question  I 
wish  to  ask  you.  I  see  on  your  hat  7th  Tennessee  Forrest 
Cavalry  (I  carried  that  insignia  not  alone  that  I  was 
proud  of  being  one  of  Forrest's  indomitable  riders,  but 
as  a  means  of  recognition  by  my  old  comrades).  I  have 
read  your  (the  Southern)  side  of  the  Okolona  battle.  In 
that  version  it  speaks  of  that  regiment,  7th  Tennessee,  re- 
sisting and  repulsing  successfully  three  charges,  made  by 
our  cavalry  in  greatly  superior  numbers.  I  was  in  those 
charges.  You  did  resist  and  more  than  repulse,  you  came 
near  annihilating  us  and  night — blessed  night,  too,  the 
only  thing  that  saved  us.  Your  version  gives  the  strength 
of  the  7th  Tennessee  about  350  men.  Now  what  perplexes 
me  is  how  350  men  in  an  open  field,  dismounted,  could  do 
what  they  did.  We  brought  against  you  in  the  first  charge, 
mounted,  1000  men,  you  drove  us  back.  We  then  rein- 
forced to  1200,  charged  the  second  time,  with  the  same 
result,  driven  back,  after  getting  as  we  did  in  the  first 
charge  in  about  seventy-five  yards  of  your  line.  We  rein- 
forced to  1500  strong,  and  at  the  sound  of  the  bugle  charge 
we  went  at  you,  with  a  full  determination  to  win,  but  met 
with  the  same  repulse.  Not  only  a  repulse,  but  an  almost 
annihilation.   That  is  what  I  can't  understand,  that  350 


34 


men  can  be  so  constituted,  out  in  the  open  ground,  as  to 
be  able  to  do  what  they  did. ' '  I  said  to  him  let  me  give 
you  my  side  of  it. ' 'The  7th  Tennessee  Cavalry  was  chosen 
by  Forrest  as  one  of  the  two  charging  regiments  of  his 
command,  not  probably  any  better  than  others,  viz. :  2nd 
Missouri,  Biffle,  Pinson,  Kelly  or  any  of  the  Kentucky 
regiments,  but  Forrest  selected  two  regiments,  Wilson 
and  7th  Tennessee,  an  honor  over  their  worthy  competi- 
tors. There  were  no  laggards  or  slouchers  in  Forrest's 
command  proper.  There  are  plenty  who  claim  to  be  For- 
rest men,  never  saw  Forrest  or  fired  a  shot  even  in  the 
four  years'  war.  This  regiment  was  composed  of  twelve 
companies,  numbering  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  near 
1200  men.  Three  companies  were  at  that  time  on  escort 
duty,  away  from  Forrest.  Now,  Colonel,  would  not  350 
men,  actually  in  line  of  battle,  be  a  big  number  for  one 
regiment  to  have  in  1864  with  three  companies  off  "1  He 
said  "Yes."  "You  remember  it  was  a  long,  narrow 
branch  field.  We  were  placed  in  that  field,  it  was  our 
center,  to  extend  across,  we  opened  ranks  to  extend  across 
the  field.  As  the  line  was  formed,  Forrest  rode  into  the 
field,  in  our  rear,  saying  to  us,  'I  think  they  are 
going  to  charge  you,  boys,  hold  this  line  for 
me.'  He  passed  on  down  the  line,  repeating  it.  With  but 
one  response  from  his  men,  ' We  will.'  Now,  Colonel, 
when  you  charged  that  line,  it  was  not  one  Forrest  you 
were  contending  with,  but  every  man  in  that  line  was  a 
Forrest.  Let  us  look  at  the  morale  of  the  two  forces. 
You  said,  Colonel,  you  had  fought  Forrest  frequently, 
and  I  suppose  a  good  many  of  the  men  in  that  charge  had 
done  so.   Now  did  you  ever  whip  Forrest  in  any  of  those 


35 


engagements"?  He  replied,  "No,  unless  I  might  claim 
Parker 's  Cross  Eoads,  but  I  think  that  doubtful. "  "  Was 
it  not  that  Forrest  decidedly  got  the  best  of  you"?  "I 
think  so,"  he  admitted. 

"Now  two  forces,  meeting  in  combat  one,  invariably 
successful,  the  other  meeting,  as  invariably,  defeat.  The 
one  buoyed  up  with  its  former  good  fortune,  the  other 
disheartened  to  the  same  extent  at  its  misfortune.  In 
that  condition,  Colonel,  man  for  man,  they  are  not  equal. 
You  were  forming  your  line  in  the  edge  of  the  woods  bor- 
dering the  field.  You  made  a  formidable  appearance, 
mounted,  with  your  charges  well  reined  and  sabres  drawn, 
you  looked  fearful  and  to  raw  troops  would  have  been  so, 
but  it  had  no  effect  on  the  seasoned  veterans  before  you, 
we  had  seen  'the  monkey  before.'  At  the  sound  of  the 
bugle  you  dashed  forward,  holding  your  horse  with  the 
left  hand  and  sabre  grasped  by  the  right.  We  were  meet- 
ing each  other,  you  in  mad  gallop,  with  us  a  walk.  For- 
rest's style  always  to  meet  a  charge,  with  a  counter  ad- 
vance, we  had  the  same  arms,  when  you  were  near  enough 
for  our  rifles  to  do  good  work  we  commenced  pumping 
lead,  some  of  you  were  firing  occasionally,  but  the  greater 
part  of  you  were  intent  on  holding  that  rein  and  sabre. 
As*  you  got  within  seventy-five  yards  we  dropped  our  car- 
bines (which  were  strung  by  a  strap  across  the  shoulder) 
drew  the  navy  six's,  one  in  each  hand,  then  we  fed  you  on 
lead  so  furious  and  fast  you  whirled  with  your  backs  to 
us.  Then  it  was  again  with  the  carbine  until  you  got 
back  into  the  woods  and  we  saw  you  were  forming  again. 
'  Well,  boys,  we  whipped  the  first  charge,  and  we  can  whip 
the  next,  was  the  universal  remark  with  us. '  We  had  been 


36 


soldiering  long  enough  to  know  yon  would  increase  your 
number,  but  number  was  not  what  we  considered,  it  was 
making  good  the  pledge  we  gave  Forrest. 

"You  came  on  us  the  second  time  as  you  did  the  first. 
In  the  interim,  while  you  were  forming,  we  were  reloading 
our  pistols  and  attending  to  any  mishap  to  our  arms.  At 
one  time  we  had  sabres,  but  had  discarded  them  as  a 
fighting  weapon,  useless,  only  good  on  dress  parade  in  the 
hands  of  the  officers,  making  them  (the  officers)  feel  they 
might  be  a  little  better  or  different  from  the  men. 

"In  your  second  charge  you  got  within  the  same  dis- 
tance as  the  first  (seventy-five  yards)  when  the  navy 
six's*  began  their  music  you  whirled,  it  was  another  play 
on  your  backs.  It  was  soon  evident  to  us  you  were  form- 
ing your  third  line,  and  it  would  be  greater  still,  if  you 
had  the  men  to  make  it  so.  You  say  the  first  was  1000, 
the  second  1200  and  the  third  1500  men.  We  saw  you 
were  determined  and  admired  your  pluck,  but  we  were 
more  confident  still  in  holding  that  line.  We  had  confi- 
dence in  our  leader  and  when  he  left  us  we  knew  Forrest 
would  soon  be  heard  from  and  if  we  needed  help  would 
get  it.  You  came  on  us  as  you  had  previously  done,  but 
we  failed  to  halt  you  with  our  navy  six's.  Just  before 
you  charged  the  third  time  we  had  crossed  a  deep  gully, 
a  wash  through  the  field.  As  you  rode  upon  us,  you  cried 
out,  '  Surrender !  Surrender ! '  Now,  Colonel,  how  many 
of  us  paid  any  attention  to  that  demand.  Not  one.  It 
was  a  word  not  in  Forrest's  vocabulary  or  in  his  manual 
of  arms.  As  you  rode  through  us  no  one  gave  any  heed 
to  your  cry,  ' Surrender!  Surrender!'  We  could  handle 
ourselves,  dismounted  more  easily,  better  and  quicker 


37 


than  yon  mounted.  As  yon  rode  through  ns  the  firing 
with  no  let  up,  but  more  furious  and  terrible,  than  ever 
before,  and  espying  that  gully  in  your  front,  you  were 
forced  to  come  back  through  our  line  or  yourselves  to  do 
the  surrendering.  You  passed  back  through  us,  and  it 
was  then  the  2nd  Missouri  came  up  on  the  side  of  the  field, 
giving  you  a  broadside,  coupled  with  our  volleys  in  your 
backs.  That,  as  you  say,  was  not  only  a  repulse  but  an 
annihilation  and  night,  good  night,  is  all  that  saved  you. ' ' 
One  of  the  Colonel's  friends  remarked,  "Can  you  not 
now,  Colonel,  understand  how  350  could  possibly  do  the 
work ' '  ?  He  said,  ' 1  Yes, ' '  extending  his  hand,  thanked  me 
for  the  explanation.  Our  loss  was  very  light.  My  com- 
pany of  forty  men,  one  badly  wounded,  shot  in  the  thigh, 
ball  ranging  downward,  who  died  third  day  afterwards. 
Other  companies  comparatively  about  the  same  loss.  This 
engagement  certainly  showed  the  great  foresight  in  For- 
rest in  discarding  the  sabre,  and  to  which  the  Federals,  to 
a  great  extent,  owed  their  defeat.  Reverse  the  forces, 
with  one  1000  of  Forrest  riders  mounters  charging  350 
dismounted  on  open  ground.  It  would  have  been  like  a 
cyclone  ridding  a  farmer's  field  of  his  wheat  shocks.  I  do 
not  say  this  in  a  spirit  of  bravado  or  zealotry.  TVe  were 
better  riders,  more  expert  with  the  gun,  had  been  trained 
to  both,  almost  from  infancy,  and  were  about  as  expert 
mounted  or  dismounted.  This  achievement  of  the  7th 
Tennessee  on  open  ground,  successfully  repulsing  three 
distinct  efforts,  following  immediately  each  other,  three 
to  four  times  their  number,  and  inflicting  such  terrible 
loss  upon  their  assistants,  is  all  but  incredible.  The  Yan- 
kee Colonel  was  justified  in  doubting.  Incredible  and  out 


38 


of  the  ordinary  are  nearly  all  of  the  exploits1  of  the  Wizard 
of  the  Saddle.  General  Forrest  considered  this  as  the 
most  brilliant  deed  of  the  many  enacted  by  his  men 
throughout  the  war.  As  great  and  brilliant  as  this  exploit 
may  be,  I  think,  as  a  participant  in  both,  the  7th  Tennessee 
charge  at  Bryce's  Cross  Eoads  superior,  particularly  in 
results. 

Forrest  would  have  whipped  Smith  the  next  day  any- 
how if  he  had  failed  in  holding  that  line.  At  that  time 
Smith  was  on  the  run  and  badly  discomfited.  It  was  here 
resisting  men  mounted,  with  both  hands  occupied,  one 
holding  the  reins  to  control  their  horses,  the  other  their 
sabres  (all  but  a  useless  weapon)  as  our  small  loss 
showed.  At  Bryce's  Cross  Eoads,  as  in  this,  in  an  open 
field  marching  upon  men,  dismounted,  lying  down  behind 
breastworks,  as'  in  this  in  a  walk,  within  seventy-five 
yards  of  their  line,  withholding  our  fire  until  we  received 
theirs,  then  with  a  yell  and  fusillade,  whip  three  times  our 
number. 

Both  positions  were  the  center  of  the  opposing  forces. 
In  this  the  7th  Tennessee  was  holding  what  it  possessed. 
At  Bryce's  possessing  what  was  held,  a  failure  there 
would  have  been  irretrievable,  our  success  in  that  charge, 
magnificent  as  it  was,  did  not  make  a  victory  of  the  battle, 
but  a  forerunner  of  the  great  and  unparalleled  victory 
that  did  come  a  few  hours  later.  Compare  the  loss  of  the 
two  charges :   Okalona  small ;  Bryce 's  great. 

The  official  report  of  Bugger's  Brigade,  23  per  cent  of 
it  was  composed  of  18th  Mississippi  and  7th  Tennessee, 
and  the  storming  of  that  fence  and  log  barricade  with  that 
terrible  hand-to-hand  encounter  was  performed  alone  by 


39 


the  7th  Tennessee,  consequently  its  loss  was  much  greater 
than  the  18th  Mississippi,  which  would  make  the  official 
report  here  heavier  than  23  per  cent  on  the  7th  Tennessee. 


The  Seventh  Tennessee  Confederates 
vs.  The  Seventh  Tennessee 
Federals. 


In  the  Spring  of  1864  Forrest  was  at  Jackson,  Tennes- 
see. One  morning,  early,  we  were  formed  into  line  on  Lib- 
erty Street,  mnd  fetlock  deep.  General  Forrest  came  rid- 
ing up  the  line,  saying,  "You  d — n  boys  have  been  brag- 
ging you  could  whip  half  a  dozen  Tennessee  Yankees. 
You  are  the  7th  Tennessee  Eebs,  the  7th  Tennessee  Yanks 
are  at  Union  City,  I  am  going  to  send  you  there  to  clean 
them  up,  if  you  don't  never  come  back  here."  All  he  had 
to  say,  but  enough.  We  all  felt  if  by  any  chance  we  were 
unsuccessful,  we  would  be  the  laughing  stock  of  Forrest's 
command,  regardless  of  what  we  had  previously  done. 
On  our  way  there  we  got  to  thinking  of  the  situation. 
Hawkins  and  his  men  were  West  Tennesseeans,  raised  as 
Southern  men.  Some  of  his  men  were  neighbor  boys  of 
our  boys.  Had,  no  doubt,  a  full  quota  in  his  regiment,  had 
not  been  fighting  to  any  extent,  were  more  marauders  and 
pilferers  than  fighters,  which  had  a  tendency  to  increase 
rather  than  decrease  his  numbers  among  that  class  of 
mankind.  While  we  7th  Tennessee  Eebs  had  been  con- 
stantly fighting,  numbers  greatly  reduced,  would  proba- 
bly be  outnumbered  by  more  than  100  men.  They  would 
have  all  the  advantage  in  position,  as  we  would  be  the  at- 
tacking party.  We  all  felt  and  said  to  each  other,  on  that 


41 


sixty  mile  journey,  ' 'Boys,  maybe  we  have  been  talking 
too  strong.  But  Forrest  has  called  our  hands.  If  they  fight 
we  have  a  job  on  our  shoulders.  We  are  in  for  it,  and 
with  any  showing  will  clean  them  up. ' '  We  got  as  far  as 
Trenton,  when  we  discovered  that  Forrest  in  his  goodness 
of  heart  added  to  our  force  seventy-five  men  of  Faukner's 
command,  good  men,  too,  which  gave  us  a  force  of  475. 
The  nearer  we  approached  Union  City  the  more  numerous 
were  the  bushwhackers  (a  bushwhacker  is  a  fellow  who 
will  not  fight  in  the  open,  face  to  face,  but  will  lie  in  am- 
bush on  the  roadside,  shoot  and  run).  It  made  us  feel  a 
little  uncomfortable,  not  knowing  when,  or  where,  the 
deadly  missile  would  come.  We  put  out  a  good  squad  of 
flankers,  regular  daredevils,  well  mounted,  and  it  was  not 
many  of  the  bushwhackers,  after  firing  his  shot,  that 
escaped.  They  did  not  give  us  any  more  trouble  after 
capture.  Were  simply  planted  to  stop  the  increase  of  such 
vermin.  We  got  to  Union  City  with  the  advanced  guard 
about  daylight,  captured  their  pickets,  but  Hawkins  was 
on  the  lookout  for  us.  He  had  gathered  his  men  inside  of 
a  stockade,  this  was  an  enclosure  with  walls  of  dirt  thrown 
up  about  ten  feet  high,  with  logs  placed  upon  top  and 
small  portholes  underneath  the  log,  every  few  yards 
apart.  It  was  probably  seventy  yards  square,  the  timber 
cut  down,  felled  from  the  stockade  with  the  limbs  and 
branches  trimmed  to  a  sharp  point.  We  dismounted  and 
advanced  on  the  stockade,  reaching  the  fallen  timber  we 
got  down  on  all  fours,  crawling  our  way,  firing  occasion- 
ally as  a  head  would  pop  up  above  the  logs.  It  was  all 
we  had  to  shoot  at,  they  (enemy)  would  fire  through  the 
little  portholes,  not  of  much  advantage  to  them,  our  lying 


42 


down  in  the  timber  made  it  difficult  to  see  us.  This  hap- 
hazard fighting  was  indulged  in  about  one  hour,  with  sev- 
eral wounded  on  our  side,  among  that  number  my  com- 
rade, Henry  Hammerly,  now  a  citizen  of  Jackson,  Ten- 
nessee. The  enemies  loss  was  five  killed,  none  wounded, 
all  shot  in  the  head,  through  curiosity  or  something  else 
that  prompted  them  to  pop  up  their  heads  above  the  logs. 
Our  close  watch  for  something  to  shoot  at,  when  a  head 
did  appear,  a  dozen  or  more  rifles  would  bang  away  and 
the  owner  of  that  head  would  be  put  out  of  service.  Fore- 
seeing no  result  from  such  fighting  Lieutenant  Livingston 
of  Company  D,  now  ex-Judge  Livingston  of  Brownsville, 
Tennessee,  (I  think  the  author  of  the  strategy,  others 
claim  it  was  Adjutant  Billy  Pope,  who  was  killed  at 
Bryce's  Cross  Koads),  proposed  the  plan  of  playing  For- 
rest's demand  of  a  prompt  and  unconditional  surrender 
or  accept  the  dire  consequences,  if  necessary  to  take  them 
by  storm.  Be  as  it  may  by  Livingston  or  Pope,  both  unex- 
celled as  soldiers,  a  white  rag,  where  it  came  from  I  and 
a  good  many  others  of  the  7th  have  never  been  able  to 
learn,  was  tied  to  a  pole  and  hoisted.  A  flag  of  truce  now, 
firing  ceased,  Livingston  or  Pope  the  bearer  of  the  flag 
went  up  to  the  stockade  demanding  of  Colonel  Hawkins 
a  surrender  in  Forrest's  name  within  five  minutes,  "That 
he,  Forrest,  didn't  care  if  they  did  not  surrender.  He 
wanted  to  turn  loose  all  his  artillery  on  that  stockade, 
blow  them  to  hell  and  not  leave  a  greasy  spot. ' '  Colonel 
Hawkins  wanted  ten  minutes  to  consult  with  his  officers. 
Could  not  be  granted,  Forrest  was  peremptory  in  his  de- 
mand. No  dilly-dallying.  Was  not  particular  for  a  sur- 
render, wanted  to  wipe  such  traitors  to  their  State  and 


43 


the  South  from  off  the  face  of  the  earth.  Hawkins'  was 
pleaded  to  in  the  name  of  humanity  to  yield.  He  (Haw- 
kins) knew  Forrest  and  it  was  a  large  force  of  Tennessee- 
ans  principally  he  was  surrounded  by,  he  knew  the  feeling 
of  hatred  between  Tennesseeans  of  opposite  sides,  finally 
five  minutes'  was  yielded  to  consult  his  officers.  He  went 
in,  called  his  officers  together,  told  them  of  the  demand, 
put  it  to  a  vote.  All  voted  surrender  except  Captain 
' 1  Black-Hawk ' '  Hays.  ( This  was  told  me  the  next  day  by 
Captain  Hays).  He  (Hays)  did  not  believe  Forrest  had 
any  artillery  there  and  wanted  them  to  hold  out  until  that 
was  shown.  It  was  then  Colonel  Hawkins  replied  to  Hays, 
"be  too  late,  for  Forrest  would  not  leave  of  us  a  greasy 
spot."  He  (Hawkins)  then  came  out,  agreed  to  surren- 
der, but  wanted  to  surrender  to  Forrest  in  person.  Haw- 
kins knowing  Forrest,  having  surrendered  to  him  before, 
was  told  he  was  asking  too  much,  General  Forrest  would 
send  him  a  man  of  his  rank.  .  Colonel  Duckworth,  the  only 
Colonel  we  had  along,  was  sent  to  receive  the  surrender. 
When  the  flag  of  truce  plan  demanding  a  surrender  was 
adopted  our  buglers  (each  company  had.  its  bugler,  be- 
sides the  regimental  bugler)  horse  holders  (every  fourth 
man  was  horse  holder  in  fighting  dismounted)  and  our 
negro  cooks  (most  every  mess  had  a  cook,  they  were  slaves 
at  that  time)  were  all  sent  around  to  different  positions. 
The  bugler  would  sound  the  artillery  call,  we  boys  lying 
in  the  cut  timber  would  yell  lustily,  feeling  good  all  over 
for  it  was  artillery  we  need.  A  hope,  however  slender,  the 
thread  by  which  it  hangs  gives  a  corresponding  gladness 
to  the  heart.  Another  artillery  call,  at  a  different  point, 
more  ringing  cheers  from  the  boys.  Another  bugler  would 


44 


sound  in  other  quarters,  more  cheers,  lustier  than  ever. 
The  boys  began  to  actually  feel  as  if  Forrest  had  changed 
his  purpose  and  was  really  there  with  all  the  artillery. 
While  those  artillery  calls  sounding  here  and  there  were 
making  our  hearts  glad,  they  did  the  unmaking  for  Haw- 
kins and  his  men.  Word  was  passed  around  to  those 
nearest  the  stockade,  when  they  were  marched  out, 
stacked  arms,  they  were  to  rush  with  a  yell,  get  between 
them  and  their  arms. 

It  was  a  surprise  and  shock  to  the  enemy,  could  not  un- 
derstand it,  were  not  long  left  in  ignorance.  The  buglers, 
horse  holders  and  negroes  came  bounding  in  when  they 
saw  the  surrender  was  accomplished.  The  negroes  in  the 
lead,  yelling  here  is  your  artillery,  Toot!  Toot!  Toot! 
with  all  their  thumbs  stuck  in  their  ears,  working  the  hand 
like  a  mule's  ear.  Our  negroes,  that  followed  our  for- 
tunes through  the  war,  as  cooks  and  servants,  were  truly 
as  jubilant  at  success  as  we,  their  masters,  and  as  sorrow- 
ful at  reverses.  There  are  some  yet  left  to  join  with  us 
in  our  reunions  and  they  meet  with  a  hearty  welcome  from 
all. 

After  the  capture,  we  raided  the  stockade,  it  was  pretty 
bountifully  supplied  with  army  supplies.  Took  what  we 
could  carry  well  on  our  horses  and  set  fire  to  the  balance 
and  marched  off  with  the  prisoners,  their  officers  riding, 
the  privates  walking  four  abreast  with  our  men  in  single 
file  on  each  side.  It  soon  commenced  a  gentle  rain.  The 
prisoners  equipped  themselves  with  a  new  outfit  of  cloth- 
ing and  blankets  from  their  store.  With  the  rain  and 
forced  marched  they  were  soon  jaded  and  overburdened 
with  the  weight  of  their  clothing,  began  to  throw  aside 


45 


first  one  thing  and  then  another.  Some  in  dropping  their 
heavy  U.  S.  blankets  would  take  their  knives  and  cut  and 
tear  them  to  pieces.  At  that  we  boys  would  laugh,  tell 
them  we  were  well  supplied,  and  if  we  should  run  short  all 
we  had  to  do  was  to  find  the  Tennessee  Yanks  to  get  all 
we  wanted  without  even  a  fight.  In  casting  aside  their 
clothing  we  discovered  inside  their  vests  a  breastplate, 
the  first  and  only  time  I  saw  one  during  the  war.  We 
had  our  fun  at  their  expense.  With  breastplates,  behind 
a  ten-foot  wall  of  dirt  and  logs,  and  then  could  not  fight. 
We  captured  525  rank  and  file,  all  could  fight,  no  horse 
holders.  Our  strength  475,  one-fourth  holding  horses,  a 
victory  of  350  on  the  firing  line,  against  525  behind 
breastworks  and  breastplates  not  a  victory,  "Vi  et 
Armis,"  but  strategy  and  name  of  Forrest.  In  the  cap- 
ture, we  noticed  we  did  not  get  any  flag,  for  it  was  usual 
for  all  commands  to  have  a  flag,  but  supposed  they  prob- 
ably did  not  need  one  as  they  would  not  appreciate  it 
enough  to  defend  it.  We  were  not  left  long  in  suspense 
about  the  flag.  We  had  not  gone  more  than  a  mile  when 
Ab  Estes  the  flag-bearer  of  Company  D  came  riding  up 
with  the  enemy's  flag  inverted  trailing  below  our  flag. 
They  were  somewhat  surprised  at  its  appearance,  having 
given  it  to  a  negro  to  bury  and  were  sure  it  was  safe. 
Estes  was  about  the  last  of  our  boys  in  the  stockade,  he 
noticed  a  negro  to  be  somewhat  excited  and  nervous, 
watching  him  pretty  close.  He  (Estes)  drew  his  pistol, 
with  it  pointed  near  the  negro 's  head,  ordered  him  to  go 
and  get  it,  not  knowing  there  was  anything  hid,  but  a 
guess.  The  negro  begged  him  not  to  shoot,  he  would  get 
it,  dropping  on  his  knees  he  went  to  scratching  in  the  dirt 


46 


and  soon  unearthed  the  regimental  flag  and  a  pair  of  pis- 
tols. In  camp  that  night  the  prisoners  were  kept  under 
guard,  except  the  officers,  they  were  paroled  on  honor,  a 
mark  of  respect  at  times  given  the  officers,  but  which 
seven  of  them  that  night  violated.  One  of  the  officers 
that  night  approached  Estes,  the  captor  of  their  flag, 
wanted  to  know  what  he  would  take  for  it.  Estes  replied 
it  was  not  for  sale.  The  officer  stated  why  he  was 
anxious  to  get  it,  his  sister  made  it,  presented  it  to  the 
regiment  in  a  speech  at  Huntingdon,  Tennessee.  Estes,  a 
splendid  soldier,  quiet  and  not  of  many  words,  said  to 
him,  "Your  sister  in  that  speech  said  or  at  least  thought 
she  was  going  to  give  it  to  men  that  would  defend  it,  as 
she  is  now  mistaken,  if  she  is  good  looking,  after  this  un- 
pleasantness is  over  will  come  to  Haywood  County,  where 
I  live,  she  and  I  can  probably  make  a  trade,  but  you  and  T 
never.  Say  to  her  it  is  in  the  hands  of  men  who  know  how 
to  defend  such  emblems. 

Since  the  restoring  of  flags  has  become  a  fad  and  no 
doubt  commendable,  I  at  our  annual  reunions  have  con- 
sulted with  members  of  the  7th  Tennessee  Cavalry  in  re- 
storing this  flag  to  the  7th  Tennessee  (Federals)  which 
met  with  a  hearty  approval.  But  so  far  have  been  unable 
to  locate  it.  Ab  Estes,  the  captor,  having  died  some  time 
ago  and  his  family  not  knowing  what  has  become  of  it. 
(retting  to  Jackson  safely  with  our  prisoners,  we  there 
met  General  Forrest,  who  had  just  returned  from  the  Pa- 
ducah,  Kentucky,  raid.  We  were  more  successful  than 
Forrest.  So  the  laugh  and  ridicule  we  anticipated  might 
happen  did  not  occur. 

When  General  Forrest  was  informed  of  the  seven  offi- 


47 


cers  violating  their  parole  of  honor  he  was  furious  and 
made  Colonel  Hawkins  and  the  remainder  of  his  officers 
(who  were  still  allowed  to  ride)  dismount  and  foot  it,  in 
mud  ankle  deep.  But  Forrest,  easily  made  mad,  did  not 
remain  so  long.  After  tramping  afoot  for  a  mile  or  so 
they  were  remounted.  At  that  time  in  Jackson  we  had  a 
few  Union  men,  one  of  them  Jas.  McCree,  who  took  it 
upon  himself  to  notify  the  Federal  command  on  Tennes- 
see Eiver  of  Forrest  being  in  Jackson  with  600  or  700 
prisoners  and  his  force  not  much  more ;  that  he  could  be 
intercepted  en  route  South,  the  prisoners  released  and 
Forrest  probably  captured.  This  Forrest  by  some  means 
found  out,  had  McCree  arrested,  carried  him  just  across 
the  river  near  Jackson,  with  the  full  purpose  of  shooting 
him.  McCree  was  looked  upon  as  a  clever  inoffensive 
man  by  the  citizens  of  Jackson  and  they  were  surprised 
at  his  arrest  with  the  charge  brought  against  him.  Know- 
ing of  Forrest's  purpose,  several  of  Jacksons'  best  citi- 
zens followed  on  across  the  river  where  Forrest  had  halt- 
ed to  carry  out  the  execution.  The  citizens  pleaded  and 
begged,  could  not  but  believe  there  was  a  mistake,  and  ter- 
rible it  would  be  to  summarily  execute  a  good  citizen  if  it 
should  finally  prove  to  be  so.  Forrest  yielded,  turned 
McCree  loose  with  this  admonition,  ' 'I  know  you  to  be 
guilty,  through  the  interception  of  these  good  men  you 
are  free,  but  never  let  me  hear  any  more  of  your  crooked- 
ness.'?  Mr.  McCree,  years  after  the  war,  when  he  had 
been  honored  to  the  position  of  Trustee  of  the  County, 
told  me  it  was  the  closest  shave  of  his  life.  Forrest  was 
right,  he  was  guilty.  After  that  I  did  not  dare  to  think, 
let  alone  act  disloyal  to  the  South.   Late  in  the  evening  on 


48 


our  way  South,  the  enemy  were  reported  in  strong  force 
at  Purdy  (thirty  miles  south  of  Jackson).  We  had  dis- 
covered a  small  force  on  our  flank  and  rear.  Forrest 
came  riding  down  our  line  with  his  escort,  going  back  to 
the  rear  saying,  * '  Boys,  if  we  are  attacked  save  your  pris- 
oners and  then  we  will  clean  them  up"  (the  attacking 
party).  I  was  riding  along  with  Captain  " Black-Hawk ' ' 
Hays  (prisoner)  and  he  heard  Forrest.  He  said  to  me, 
"What  does  that  mean"?  I  said,  "You  understand  the 
English  language,  Captain,  it  means  exactly  what  it  im- 
plied, you  are  not  to  get  away."  He  answered,  "That's 
hell,  but  I  suppose  it's  right,  I  would  do  so  myself  if  our 
positions  were  reversed."  It  proved  to  be  a  false  alarm, 
the  enemy,  as  Mr.  McCree  told  me,  did  receive  his  dis- 
patch but  were  to  faint-hearted  to  attack  Forrest. 

From  there  on  to  Andersonville  prison  the  way  was 
clear,  it  being  the  finis  of  7th  Tennessee  Federals  for  the 
remainder  of  the  war  owing  to  the  cruel  and  heartless 
edict  of  Grant  and  Lincoln,  "No  exchange  of  prisoners." 

Our  flag  of  truce  was  fired  on  by  three  of  Hawkins ' 
men,  one  of  whom  is  living  in  Jackson,  or  was  a  short  time 
ago.  We  have  had  several  chats  over  this  fight,  I  should 
say  capture.  He  says,  "Hawkins  and  all  the  others  of 
his  command,  save  the  three  who  fired  upon  the  flag  of 
truce,  were  terribly  hacked  and  humiliated  that  Forrest 
was  not  there  in  person,  but  we  three  were  the  happiest 
fellows  in  the  world  at  his  absence.  Colonel  Hawkins  had 
notified  us  Forrest  would  be  certain  to  call  for  the  men 
who  had  fired  on  the  flag  of  truce  and  he  (Hawkins) 
would  have  to  deliver  them  up.  Being  a  dastardly  act, 
Forrest  would  make  quick  work  of  our  execution."  For- 


49 


tunate  indeed,  for  them  Forrest  would  have  noticed  such 
an  act  and  its  punishment  would  have  been  fully  carried 
out.  so  Jackson  would  at  least  be  minus  one  citizen  by 
count  if  nothing  more. 

The  days  of  chivalry  can  not  be  confined  to  the  past,  in 
the  times  of  the  knight  and  knight-errantry.  In  the  stir- 
ring events  of  1861  and  1865  were  the  exploits  akin  to  the 
acts  of  the  Knights  Templars  of  yore. 

In  the  raids  of  the  Federals  on  the  rich  prairie  land  of 
Northeast  Mississippi,  the  Federals  had  sent  out  a  scout- 
ing party  of  near  100  men  in  the  vicinity  of  Aberdeen. 
Mississippi. 

Two  companies  of  the  7th  Tennessee  Cavalry  about  the 
same  number  were  on  a  scout  in  the  same  territory.  Be- 
ing a  level  country,  interspersed  with  groves  of  timber, 
a  party  could  be  seen  some  distance.  It  so  happened  with 
these  two  scouting  parties,  they  recognized  they  were 
about  equal  in  force  and  their  mission  the  same  as  scouts. 
They  continued  their  advance  toward  each  other,  with  no 
firing.  When  with  several  hundred  yards  of  each  other 
the  Federal  commander  halted  his  party,  advanced  alone ; 
as  he  did  so  our  men  halted.  When  in  distance  to  be 
heard,  he  stated,  "as  they  were  about  equally  matched 
and  both  on  the  same  errand,  instead  of  a  general  engage- 
ment, would  leave  the  issue  to  one  of  each  party  in  a  sabre 
duel." 

This  officer  was  a  German,  and  the  Germans  as  a  na- 
tion were  experts  in  the  use  of  the  sabre,  dueling  common 
then  and  in  vogue  to  this  day  on  the  field  of  honor  decided 
by  the  sabre,  their  favorite  weapon. 

It  was  out  of  the  rules  of  duelling  (at  that  time  not  ob- 


50 


solete  in  the  South)  for  the  challenger  to  choose  the 
weapon.  No  doubt  it  was  a  bloodless  victory  he  desired, 
knowing  too  that  the  sabre  was  not  our  strong  arm,  but 
the  pistol,  which  if  used,  someone  stood  a  good  chance  of 
being  placed  hors  de  combat.  Our  boys  did  not  demur, 
for  with  them  was  a  Polander,  an  expert  with  the  sabre. 
Poland,  like  Germany,  used  the  sabre.  Our  Polander,  a 
regular  athlete,  six  feet  in  height,  weighing  180  pounds, 
with  no  surplus  flesh.  He  was  eager  to  accept  the  chal- 
lenge, did  so,  understanding  the  vanquished  party  to  stop 
scouting  and  retire  to  their  command. 

They  met  on  middle  ground,  mounted — a  horseback 
duel.  It  was  but  an  instant  after  they  clashed  the  sword 
of  the  German  went  flying  from  his  hands.  The  combat 
was  over.  The  two  parties  came  together,  cracked  jokes 
and  chatting,  not  as  a  few  moments  before  enemies,  but 
the  best  of  old  friends.  This  lasted  about  an  hour,  when 
the  German  mounted  his  men  and  returned  to  his  com- 
mand.   Our's  continued  their  scout  without  molestation. 

A  gallant  way  to  decide  who  should  be  top  of  the  situa- 
tion, better  than  a  bloody  conflict  that  would  have  no  ef- 
fect either  way  on  the  impending  battle. 


Tishomingo  Creek  or  Bryce's 
Cross  Roads, 


I  was  a  member  of  the  7th  Tennessee,  Company  L,  high 
private  two  years  and  Lieutenant  two  years. 

On  June  8,  1864,  the  7th  Tennessee  (cavalry)  met  the 
advance  of  the  Federals  near  Eipley,  Mississippi,  and 
skirmished  with  them  that  day,  going  into  camp  late  in 
the  evening  at  Booneville,  Mississippi,  where  we  met  Gen- 
eral Forrest  with  a  part  of  his  command.  The  next  day 
three  men  were  to  be  shot  for  desertion.  Two  were  shot — 
one,  a  mere  boy — was  reprieved.  This  was  the  first  and 
only  time  I  ever  witnessed  a  public  official  execution. 
That  night  about  midnight,  as  near  as  I  can  come  at  it, 
for  we  had  some  time  before  crawled  into  our  "chebangs" 
(a  chebang"  is  an  oilcloth  which  " Uncle  Sam"  furnished 
all  of  Forrest's  cavalry,  7x4  feet,  stretched  over  a  pole  on 
two  forks  about  two  feet  high  with  the  sides  pinned  to  the 
ground)  and  were  fast  asleep,  when  an  order  came  to  me 
to  send  L.  Tanner,  a  member  of  my  company,  to  General 
Forrest.  Tanner  was  formerly  an  engineer  on  the  Mobile 
and  Ohio  Eailroad  (Booneville  is  on  the  M.  and  0.  E.  E.) 
Now  this  is  what  I  get  from  Tanner :  He  carried  General 
Forrest  on  an  engine  to  West  Point,  where  General  S.  D. 
Lee  was  with  about  3500  men.  Generals  Lee  and  Forrest 
consulted  on  the  engine,  in  the  presence  of  Tanner,  swear- 
ing him  to  secrecy  in  regard  to  the  impending  battle.  Not 


52 


far  from  day,  Tanner  came  to  my  ' '  chebang ' '  and  said  he 
had  something  to  tell  me,  and  that  he  knew  I  would  not 
give  him  away.  He  then  told  me  the  plan  of  the  battle. 
Forrest  was  to  fall  back  toward  West  Point  until  Lee  and 
Forrest  could  unite  their  forces,  and  then  the  fight  should 
begin.  Now,  remember,  that  General  Forrest  had,  all 
told,  only  3200  men  and  Captain  John  Morton,  with  the 
celebrated  four  ' 'Bull  Pups"  (as  Morton's  artillery  was 
called  by  the  boys).  General  Lee,  with  3500  men  and 
some  artillery,  how  much  I  don't  know,  nor  is  it  material, 
as  it  nor  General  Lee,  either  himself  or  men,  were  in  the 
battle.  General  Sturgis  (Federal)  had  9000  infantry, 
3000  cavalry  and  twenty-two  pieces  of  artillery. 

Does  not  Tanners'  story,  of  the  plan  of  the  battle  told 
on  the  engine,  look  reasonable?  Consider  the  forces  on 
each  side  and  what  "West  Pointer"  would  not  have  de- 
cided to  join  the  Confederate  forces  before  giving  battle? 
I  do  not  say  this  in  disparagement  of  West  Point  Gen- 
erals, but  old  ' '  common  sense, ' '  a  rare  commodity,  would 
have  so  advised,  but  it  was  a  reckoning  without  the  host, 
for  Forrest  never  did  anything  as  anyone  else  would  have 
done,  or  even  thought  of  doing,  in  regard  to  a  fight.  He 
was  all  alone,  none  ever  came  near  to  him  or  his  like,  but 
Stonewall  Jackson.  I  am  somewhat  digressing,  but  it  can 
be  excused  in  an  old  Veteran,  a  follower  of  the  "Wizard 
of  the  Saddle."  About  sunrise  "boots  and  saddles"  had 
sounded — we  were  forming  into  line  by  companies,  when 
General  Forrest  came  riding  by  and  remarked  to  us, 
"You  boys  had  your  fun  the  other  day  (alluding  to  our 
skirmish  with  the  "Yanks"  at  Eipley)  and  I  am  going  to 
put  you  boys  in  the  rear. "  As  he  called  skirmishing  fun, 


53 


we  boys  did  enjoy  it  from  the  manner  in  which  we  acted — 
were  not  in  any  great  danger,  either  to  man  or  horse,  and 
as  it  resulted  in  that  day's  skirmish,  neither  were  hnrt. 
Our  plan  was  this,  we  were  about  400  strong,  100  of  this1 
number  were  sent  around  the  flanks  and  rear  of  the  ene- 
my to  gather  reliable  information  of  their  strength.  Gen- 
eral Forrest  never  placed  much  reliance  on  the  ' 'feather- 
bed scouts"  as  he  termed  our  scouting  companies,  when 
a  battle  was  pending.  We  then  divided  the  300  left  in 
two  parts.  The  road  from  Eipley,  Mississippi,  going 
southeast  on  which  the  enemy  was  traveling  runs  upon  a 
ridge  with  deep  hollows  on  each  side,  the  tree-tops  in  the 
hollows  not  more  than  on  a  level  with  the  road.  Just  be- 
fore meeting  the  enemy  their  cavalry,  3000  strong,  was 
marching  in  front.  One  of  their  divisions  (150  men) 
would  select  a  good  place  for  ambush,  the  other  (150) 
would  fall  back  to  the  next  suitable  place  for  an  ambus- 
cade. As  the  enemy  got  near  enough  for  good  execution 
with  our  rifles  and  pistols,  our  boys  would  pour  into  their 
ranks  a  deadly  volley,  mount  their  horses  and  scamper 
back  beyond  the  second  part  lying  in  ambush,  hide  them- 
selves at  the  next  suitable  place.  I  don't  care  how  brave 
and  well  disciplined  troops  may  be,  a  sudden  deadly  vol- 
ley poured  into  them  will  temporarily  ' 1  knock  them  up," 
throw  them  into  confusion,  and  before  a  rally  can  be 
made  our  boys  are  out  of  reach  of  their  shots,  galloping 
merrily  on  to  the  next  rendezvous.  This  was  kept  up 
pretty  well  all  day,  leaving  them  in  time  for  us  to  reach 
Booneville  about  night.  So  we  were  placed.  General 
Lyon  (Confederate)  was  ordered  to  go  out  and  meet  the 
Yanks  and  see  what  they  were  doing.    Captain  Morton 


54 


with  the  4 'Bull  Pups' '  started  towards  West  Point.  Does 
not  this'  look  like  Tanner's  story  was  true?  What  changed 
the  program? 

Forrest,  riding  along  with  General  Lyon  or  Sucker,  re- 
marked, "It  is  hot  and  dry;  Sturgis  is  not  expecting  a 
fight  and  he  (Sturgis)  is  stretched  out  on  the  road  seven 
miles  and  I  can  whip  him  as  fast  as  he  can  get  his  men 
up."  Ordered  General  Lyon  when  he  met  the  Yanks — 
"Charge  and  given  them  hell,  they  (the  Yanks)  will  fall 
back  and  for  him  (General  Lyon)  to  keep  charging  and 
giving  them  hell  and  I'll  soon  be  there  with  you."  And 
that  is  just  what  happened.  By  9  o  'clock  a.  m.  the  fight 
was  on.  We  moved  out  from  camp  that  morning,  in  the 
rear,  marching  quietly  and  orderly,  and  from  what  I 
thought  I  knew  of  the  doings  for  that  day,  felt  satisfied 
I  could  go  another  day  with  a  whole  hide,  but  what  tran- 
quility and  peace  of  mind  I  had  soon  vanished.  The  order 
load,  trot,  and  soon  enforced  to  the  gallop  and  into  the 
run,  by  the  right  we  wheeler,  fronted  into  line,  dismount, 
action  front.  We  were  near  a  field  in  corn  about  knee 
high.  In  that  cornfield  was  a  Yankee  skirmish  line.  Fifty 
volunteers'  were  called  on  to  form  a  skirmish  line  to  drive 
the  Yankee  line  back ;  100  men  jumped  forward ;  fifty  or- 
dered back  to  our  main  line.  This  field  was  long  and  nar- 
row; the  timber  about  it  was*  scrub  oak  and  black-jack. 
Over  the  fence  we  went,  following  our  skirmishes — none 
firing  but  the  skirmish  line.  General  Rucker  was  with  us 
and  our  field  officers  mounted.  About  midway  the  field 
our  mounted  men  were  dismounted  (horses  shot).  Near- 
ing  the  opposite  side  of  the  field  we  discovered  the  Yanks 
had  doubled  down  the  rail  fence,  with  logs  on  top,  behind 


55 


which  the  Yanks'  were  lying,  with  a  bright  line  of  steel 
shining  in  front  (their  guns  poked  through  the  cracks  of 
the  fence).  Their  (the  Federals)  skirmish  line  got  over 
behind  the  fence.  Ours  halted  until  we  walked  (all  across 
that  field  was  a  walk)  up  and  got  into  line.  We  were 
then  not  more  than  200  yards  apart.  Up  to  this  time  fir- 
ing was  kept  up  by  the  skirmish  lines ;  after  their  getting 
over  the  fence  they  ceased  firing  and  so  did  ours.  All  at 
once  as  if  by  a  preconcerted  signal  a  silence  fell  over  the 
battlefield.  In  its  deep  stillness  it  was  awful.  More  try- 
ing on  one's  backbone  and  grit  than  any  charge  on  hill  or 
breastworks,  amid  the  bursting  of  bombshells,  the  sharp 
crackle  of  grape  shot  and  cannister  mingled  with  the  more 
dangerous  and  fatal  sharp  zip,  zip,  of  minnie.  A  calm, 
that  happens  now  and  then  in  battle,  and  which  portends 
such  awful  and  direful  calamities  to  the  participants  fac- 
ing each  other,  it  is  then  a  man's  (I  should  say  a  boy's,  for 
most  of  us  were  boys)  whole  life  becomes  a  living  pano- 
rama before  him.  I  could  see  my  father  and  good  mother 
and  myself,  a  little  tot,  playing  upon  her  lap — my  school- 
hood  days — romping  and  frolicking  with  my  schoolmates. 
In  fact,  a  man's  whole  life  is  before  him  and  all  in  a  mo- 
ment. Look  up  and  down  the  line.  Not  a  word  spoken. 
All  with  as  but  one  thought :  Where  shall  I  be  in  a  few 
moments  ? 

Just  in  front  of  us  was  a  slight  rise,  thinly  covered  with 
broomsedge.  We  had  been  soldiering  long  enough  to 
know  what  to  expect  and  when.  This  rise  was  about  sev- 
enty-five yards  in  front  of  their  hastily  improvised  breast 
works  of  fence  rails  and  logs.  Now  I  shall  relate  what 
was  a  strange  coincidence  and  to  what  we  owed  our  salva- 


56 


tion,  personally,  and  the  success  of  our  arms  in  that  fight. 
It  will  explain  itself  further  on.  Word  was  passed  down 
the  line  in  a  whisper,  "hold  your  fire  and  at  the  flash  of 
their  guns  every  man  to  fall  to  his  face,  and  then  up  and 
with  a  yell  and  volley,  and  over  that  fence  go."  As  we 
got  up  on  that  rise  the  Federal  commander's  voice  rang 
out :  ' '  Make  ready !  Take  aim !  Fire ! ' '  I  can  hear  that 
voice  even  to  this  day  (over  forty-two  years  ago)  when  I 
look  on  old  Time.  In  that  volley,  we  lost  out  of  350  men, 
75  killed  and  disabled  from  any  more  service  and  a  great 
many  only  with  temporary  wounds.  Why  they  did  not  kill 
all  of  us  I  can  not  say,  only  the  Yasks  could  not  shoot  as 
the  Eebs  did.  Over  the  fence  we  went  and  then,  as  can  be 
seen,  correctly  pictured  in  Dr.  Weyth's  History  of  For- 
rest and  His  Men,  took  place  a  hand-to-hand  fight,  Yanks 
and  Eebs  terribly  mixed,  but  it  did  not  last  long — just 
possibly  couldn't,  for  there  would  have  been  no  one  left 
to  tell  the  tale.  I  was  near  Sergeant-Major  Huhn  when 
he  was  clubbed  with  a  gun  by  a  stalwart  Yank.  My  old 
school-mate,  bed-mate  and  comrade,  Henry  J.  Fox  (now 
living  at  Humboldt,  Tennessee),  was  upon  the  other  side 
of  Huhn  about  the  same  distance  as  myself,  shot  the  Yank 
dead  with  his  navy  six.  He  was  not  more  than  three  feet 
distant,  if  that.  Other  histories  of  that  fearful  holocaust 
gives  credit  to  others  of  killing  Huhn's  assailants,  which 
they  probably  did,  but  the  killing  of  the  one  who  clubbed 
Huhn  was  certainly  shot  dead  by  Fox.  We  (Fox  and 
myself)  were  somewhat  in  the  rear  of  Huhn,  but  near 
enough  to  have  touched  him  with  our  hands.  Huhn  was  a 
brave  and  fearless  soldier.  It  was  there  the  sabre  and 
navy  six  decided  who  was  boss.    The  Yanks  had  seven 


57 


shooting  Spencer  rifle  and  sabre;  Forrest's  men  the  old 
Sharp  carbine  and  two  navy  sixes  each.  Dr.  Weyth  in 
his  history  (and  I  gather  the  same  from  Federals  I  have 
met  who  were  there)  places  three  regiments  behind  that 
fence,  the  Third  Iowa,  and  Illinois  and  a  Michigan.  What 
a  victory !  Out  in  the  open  ground !  Not  firing  a  single 
gun  from  the  line  until  we  had  received  their  fire !  Bush- 
ing breastworks  with  men  lying  coolly  and  calmly  on  the 
ground  taking  dead  aim!  Firing  a  deliberate  volley  at 
the  word  of  command  in  broken  doses:  "Make  ready! 
Take  aim!  Fire!"  at  seventy-five  yards,  and  then  for 
one  regiment,  the  old  7th  Tennessee  (Confederate)  not 
more  than  350  men  in  line,  to  utterly  rout  and  place  hors 
de  combat  three  regiments,  at  least  three  to  one  if  not 
more. 

It  has  been  my  good  fortune,  in  our  reunions,  to  meet 
with  several  Federals  who  were  in  the  same  fight  and 
fought  "vis-a-vis."  When  I  say  good  fortune,  I  mean  it. 
I  really  enjoyed  it.  I  have  nothing  but  the  utmost  respect 
for  one  who  has  shouldered  his  musket  through  conviction 
and  duty.  At  one  of  our  reunions,  just  after  eating  my 
dinner  and  lighting  my  pipe,  I  strolled  to  a  bench,  took 
my  seat  by  a  gentleman  dressed  in  citizen's  garb,  I  with 
my  uniform  of  gray.  He  noticed  it  and  said,  "I  see  you 
have  once  been  a  soldier,  what  command  did  you  belong 
to ' '  1  I  answered,  1  i  Forrest 's. ' 9  "  Were  you  at  the  Grun- 
town  fight"?  I  looked  him  in  the  face  and  said,  "You 
are  a  Yankee"?  "No,  not  a  Yankee,  but  a  Westerner. 
How  did  you  know  that  I  was  on  the  other  side 99 !  "  That 
fight  is  called  Guntown  by  the  Federals,  Bryce's  Cross 
Eoads  or  Tishomingo  Creek  by  the  Confederates."  I 


58 


asked  if  he  was  there.  He  replied,  "Yes,  in  the  3rd  Iowa 
Cavalry."  "In  that  fight  you  were  behind  a  fence  don- 
bled  down  with  logs  and  brush  piled  on  top"?  "Yes." 
"You  were  armed  with  Spencer  seven-shooting  rifles"? 
"Yes."  How  is  it,  he  asked,  "You  know  all  this"?  "I 
was  one  of  the  boys  in  that  field,  in  your  front,  and  after 
driving  you  from  the  fence  and  we  had  taken  possession, 
in  front  of  me  on  the  opposite  of  the  fence  was  a  dead 
Yank  with  a  3rd  Iowa  cartridge  box  belted  around  him 
and  the  noted  7-shooting  Spencer  rifle  in  his  hand.  I  found 
his  cartridge  box  full,  exchanged  my  Sharp's  carbine 
(which  only  shot  one  time)  for  his  and  went  through  that 
fight  with  a  3rd  Iowa  cartridge  box  belted  around  me  and 
a  Spencer  rifle.  But  in  the  next  engagement  discarded 
the  much-lauded  Spencer  and  went  back  to  the  old  reliable 
Sharp's  carbine.  The  Spencer  had  too  much  trigger 
works,  getting  out  of  fix,  in  battle  with  men,  was  not  like 
a  gun  becoming  cranky  in  a  squirrel  or  duck  hunt.  Forty- 
five  Federals  were  reported  killed  at  that  fence."  "My 
brother,"  said  the  3rd  Iowan,  "was  killed  there." 

We  had  a  good  talk  over  the  fight.  I  asked  the  ques- 
tion, "How  was  it  that  350  Eebs  did  whip  three  regiments 
of  Yanks  (not  Yanks,  as  he  termed  them  Westerners) 
well  armed  as  they  were,  from  that  fence"? 
He  said,  1 1  Sturgiss  was  drunk  that  day. ' ' 
"Ah,  no,"  I  remarked,  "that  won't  do  for  Sturgiss  was 
not  there  with  you  and  probably  not  in  a  mile  of  that 
place." 

"Well,  you  are  right,"  he  said.  "I  will  now  tell  you. 
There  are  three  circumstances  that  helped  you  in  your 
victory.   First,  while  lying  behind  that  fence,  quietly  and 


59 


calmly  (if  a  fellow  can  be  said  to  be  quiet  and  calm  in 
battle,  for  you  remember  you  were  coming  on  us  in  a  walk 
and  not  firing)  we  were  ordered  to  bold  our  fire  until 
command  was1  given.  We  talked  to  each  other  with  our 
guns  pointed  through  the  fence,  taking  good  aim  on  your 
advancing  line.  We  will  kill  every  man  in  that  line.  At 
the  word  fire,  we  poured  a  deadly  volley  into  you,  and  as 
we  expected,  you  all  fell  and  we  were  sure  that  we  had 
completely  wiped  you  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  but  to 
our  surprise  and  astonishment,  it  seemed  that  the  dead 
line  had  bounded  to  their  feet,  with  double  their  number, 
yelling  and  shooting  like  mad  devils.  Second,  you  were 
so  close,  it  enabled  you  to  get  over  the  fence  behind  us 
before  we  could  recover  from  our  surprise.  Third,  you 
Eebs  had,  besides  your  cambines,  two  navy  sixes,  instead 
we  had  sabres.  You  saw  and  we  both  know  the  difference 
in  close  quarters  between  the  sabre  and  navy  sixes." 

Now,  this  attack  was  by  our  center  on  the  center  of  the 
Federals,  General  Lyon  on  our  right  and  General  Bell  on 
our  left.  Apparently  all  firing  had  ceased  to  see  how  that 
charge  would  result. 

When  it  was  over  and  success  assured,  the  firing  be- 
came general  on  both  sides  of  us.  Lieutenant  Colonel  W. 
F.  Taylor  (now  a  cotton  merchant  of  Memphis,  Tenn.,) 
was  in  command  of  the  7th  Tennessee  that  day.  A  purer, 
braver,  or  better  man  never  commanded  a  body  of  men 
than  W.  F.  Taylor.  As  we  could  hear  the  Yanks  talking 
in  the  dense  black-jack  woods,  not  far  in  our  front,  we  got 
back  over  the  fence,  anticipating  the  Yanks  would  proba- 
bly attempt  to  retake  the  position. 

In  a  short  while,  an  exclamation  from  Colonel  Taylor, 


60 

' 'Look,  boys/'  and  pointing  to  our  left  we  saw  that  Gen- 
eral Bell  was  falling  back  and  the  Yankee  flags  were  pass- 
ing down  in  our  rear.  Colonel  Taylor  said,  ' 'Boys,  this 
looks  like  Fort  Alton  for  some,  Johnson's  Island  for  oth- 
ers, but  we  will  stick  to  this  fence  and  do  the  best  we 
can."  Privates  were  sent  to  the  former,  officers  to  the 
latter. 

About  that  time  there  was  a  crashing  of  limbs  and 
brush,  and  a  voice  rang  out,  "Where  is  the  7th  Tennes- 
see"? We  all  knew  that  voice.  It  was  General  Forrest 
on  his  noble,  dapple  iron-gray. 

Colonel  Taylor  answered,  "Here  we  are,  General,  what 
is  left  of  us;  we  suffered  severely  in  that  charge  and  I 
have  only  about  seventy-five  men  left." 

Now,  to  understand  our  position,  the  field,  a  narrow 
strip,  extended  farther  up  on  our  left  where  the  fence 
barricade  was,  seemed  to  be  an  offset  or  rather  a  corner 
in  the  field.  General  Forrest  rode  out  in  the  edge  of  the 
opening  and  ordered  us  to  charge.  (By  the  way,  I  don't 
think  General  Forrest  ever  mastered  Hardee's  tactics 
any  further  or  had  any  use  for  it,  than  the  single  com- 
mand ,' i  Charge ! ' '  He  often  said  he  could  whip  any  man 
if  he  could  get  in  the  first  blow.  The  d — d  Yankees  in  the 
rear.  I  notice  some  writers  on  Forrest  say  he  seldom 
cursed;  well,  the  fellow  that  writes  that  way  was  not 
where  the  7th  Tennessee  was  that  day.  In  camp  he  did 
not  swear,  but  in  battle  his  acts  and  words  were  the  first, 
superhuman,  and  the  later,  old  Nick  himself  would  have 
been  dismounted. 

Colonel  Taylor  replied  to  General  Forrest,  in  his  quiet 
way,  1 '  General,  I  have  not  more  than  seventy-five  men. ' ' 


61 


Colonel  Taylor  had  seen  too  many  Yankee  flags  pass- 
ing in  our  rear  for  seventy-five  men  to  handle.  And  we 
boys  thought  the  Colonel  was  looking  at  the  situation 
about  right,  but  not  so  with  Forrest.  We  were  ordered 
into  line  to  make  the  charge.  Our  movement  was  too  slow 
to  suit  Forrest,  he  would  curse,  then  praise,  and  then 
threaten  to  shoot  us  himself,  if  we  were  so  afraid  the 
Yanks  might  hit  us.  All  this  time  he  was  sitting  on  his 
horse  in  the  open  field;  the  Yanks  espied  him,  and  then 
what  a  deluge  of  grapeshot,  cannister,  bomb  shells,  rico- 
chet shots  plowed  up  the  ground  to  the  front,  to  the  rear, 
to  the  sides,  above  and  under  old  Dapple  Gray,  but  For- 
rest and  old  Dapple  Gray  did  not  seem  to  care.  It  looked 
fearful  to  that  meagre,  thin  line  of  seventy-five  men.  I 
expected  every  moment  to  see  Forrest  and  horse  torn  into 
fragments,  but  good  fortune  favored  him.  As  I  have  be- 
fore stated,  he  would  praise  in  one  breath,  then  in  the 
next  would  curse  us  and  finally  said,  "I  will  lead  you." 

Colonel  Taylor  replied  to  us,  "Boys,  if  he  leads,  we  will 
have  to  follow." 

Forrest  ordered  us  to  give  the  yell  and  follow.  We  did 
so  after  getting  out  into  the  opening,  where  bombshells 
were  bursting  and  riochet  shots  coming  along  like  wind- 
ing blades.  We  hustled  and  across  that  narrow  field  was 
a  race — double  quick  nowhere  in  it.  But  Forrest  fooled 
us,  he  did  not  lead ;  instead,  he  went  down  the  way  we  had 
advanced  like  a  bolt  of  lightning  by  the  side  of  the  Yanks 
and  got  to  Bell's  men,  who  were  falling  back  and  urged 
them  to  rally;  told  them  he  had  the  d — d  Yankees 
whipped,  was  charging  them  in  the  rear  and  one  more 
rally  and  he  would  have  them.  Now,  all  of  Forrest's  men 


62 


had  such  confidence  in  him  they  were  easy  to  believe, 
whatever  he  said,  and  the  rally  was  made. 

Now,  what  was  the  situation  of  the  apparently  victor- 
ious Yanks?  They  heard  that  Eebel  yell  and  firing  in 
their  rear,  they  did  not  know  it  was  only  a  handful  of 
men.  They  halted,  and  it  was  then  that  Bell's  men  rallied 
and  with  a  yell,  charged.  Just  as  we  got  across  the  field 
and  about  to  get  over  in  the  woods,  here  came  the  Yanks 
back  in  a  long,  sweeping  trot ;  we  got  down  to  the  fence 
and  it  was  then  we  had  our  fun  shooting  through  the 
cracks  of  a  fence.  It  was  now  between  3  and  4  o'clock 
P.  M.,  and  the  bulk  of  the  fight  that  day  over  with. 

You  can  not  speak  of  this  fight  without  telling  of  Cap- 
tain John  Morton  (Forrest's  chief  of  artillery)  and  his 
renowned  four  ' ' Bull  Pups'"  (not  that  they  were  sure 
enough  bull  pups  of  the  dog  species,  but  what  we  boys' 
called  Mortons'  artillery).  It  would  be  like  acting  Ham- 
let with  Hamlet  left  out.  I  met  with  Captain  Morton  at 
Jackson,  Tennessee,  shortly  after  the  publication  in  Har- 
per's Magazine  of  Dr.  Weyth's  History  of  Forrest  and 
His  Men  on  the  Tishomingo  Creek  battle.  As  we  were 
participants  in  the  fight,  we  talked  about  Dr.  Weyth's 
version  of  it.  Captain  Morton  asked  me  to  give  him  my 
idea. 

I  said  to  him,  ' ' We  opened  that  fight  about  9  o'clock  A. 
M.,  with  not  more  than  3200  men,  all  cavalry,  against  the 
Federal  forces,  consisting  of  9000  infantry,  3000  cavalry 
and  twenty-two  pieces  of  artillery,  and  we  had  no  artillery 
in  the  fight  until  past  12  o'clock  (noon)  and  by  4  o'clock 
P.  M.  we  had  the  Yanks*  completely  routed  and  had  cap- 


63 


tured  more  men  and  guns  than  we  had  in  the  engagement 
that  day. 

He  said, ' •  You  and  I  agree  in  all  except  I  can  be  definite 
as  to  the  time  and  amount  of  artillery  I  (Captain  Morton) 
looked  at  my  watch  the  first  gun  I  fired,  it  was  exactly 
1 :30  o'clock  P.  M.  and  I  did  not  lose  any  time  in  opening 
with  the  Bull  Pups  after  getting  on  the  battle  ground.  I 
went  up  in  a  run,  General  Forrest  ordered  me  to  get  up 
close  and  give  them  (the  Yanks)  grape  and  cannister 
double-shotted.  I  remarked  to  the  General  I  had  no  sup- 
port, he  (Forrest)  said, ' Go,  I  would  like  to  see  the  Yanks 
capture  you,  Morton, '  and  go  I  did.  You  boys  had  driven 
them  to  the  cross  roads  and  they  were  massed  forty  deep, 
and  you  bet  it  was  terrible  execution. ' ' 

"Dr.  Weyth  gives  you  nine  pieces  of  artillery  and  we 
boys  did  not  see  but  the  Bull  Pups." 

"The  four  Bull  Pups  were  all  I  had,  and  what  is 
strange  to  me,  I  got  a  letter  from  Dr.  Weyth  stating  that 
he  was  writing  a  history  of  that  fight,  and  as  I  (Captain 
Morton)  was  Forrest's  chief  of  artillery,  give  him  what 
the  artillery  did  in  that  engagement.  I  wrote  to  him  just 
what  I  have  told  you.  I  am  surprised  at  his  version. 
Now,  I  can't  think  Dr.  Weyth  would  not  wish  to  give 
Forrest  and  his  men  all  the  credit  due  them.  He  must 
have  thought  after  getting  the  views  of  the  participants, 
it  looked  to  him  like  1  there  were  too  many  squirrels  up 
that  tree, '  it  would  be  better  to  moderate  it  a  little  for  his 
readers  would  look  upon  his  book  as  a  romance  or  fic- 
tion." 

And  as  he  makes  it,  it  was  a  superb  victory  with  the 
numbers  engaged,  the  results  accomplished.    It  has  not 


64 


been  excelled  or  even  equaled  in  ancient  or  modern  times. 

Dr.  Weyths'  version:  "Confederates,  4875  men  and  12 
pieces  artillery;  Federals,  8000  men  and  22  pieces  of  ar- 
tillery/' 

At  the  Louisville  reunion,  1905,  I  met  with  General  Ly- 
ons, of  Kentucky,  the  same  General  Lyons  who  opened 
the  fight.  His  version:  "We  (Confederates)  did  not 
have  exceeding  2800  men,  and  Mortons'  four  Bull  Pups. 
I  (Lyons)  know  what  I  say  to  be  true  for  I  was  in  a  posi- 
tion to  get  the  official  facts,  and  did  so.  Sturgiss  (Fed- 
eral) had  13,000  men  and  twenty-two  pieces  of  artillery." 

We  fought  dismounted,  consequently  every  fourth  man 
was  a  horse-holder,  3200  (my  version)  minus  (one-fourth) 
800,  gives  2800,  who  whipped  and  all  but  extirpated  a 
picked  command  of  more  than  four  and  one-half  times 
their  strength. 

Eead  the  histories  of  Grant  and  Sherman,  written  by 
themselves,  and  they  will  tell  you  that  force  under  Stur- 
giss and  Grierson  was  selected  for  the  express  purpose  of 
capturing  or  killing  that  Hell-hound,  as  General  Sherman 
so  often  termed  General  N.  B.  Forrest. 

I  am  again  digressing  from  the  fight,  but  what  old  Vet 
can  help  it,  when  he  is  writing  about  such  things.  He  for- 
gets the  present  and  is  living  over  again  those  stormy 
days. 

When  Sturgiss  left  Memphis,  Tennessee,  in  his  com- 
mand were  two  full  regiments  (900  each)  of  negroes.  Be- 
fore starting  on  the  march  they  knelt  upon  the  ground, 
swearing  eternal  vengeance  on  Forrest  and  his  men,  and 
revenge  for  Fort  Pillow,  with  black  flags  having  inscribed 
thereon  "Kemember  Fort  Pillow."    From  Memphis  to 


65 


Bipley,  Mississippi,  Sturgiss  and  his  officers  were  boast- 
ing and  telling  the  citizens  living  along  the  route  they 
were  carrying  the  negroes  along  to  guard  Forrest  and  his 
men  back  to  Memphis,  and  that  they  would  fare  as*  did  the 
negroes  at  Fort  Pillow.  All  this  and  whatever  else  was 
said  or  done  by  them  was  reported  to  us  by  our  faithful 
scouts.  Can  you  wonder  now  that  we  fought  not  like  com- 
mon mortals,  but  like  incarnate  fiends  of  hell  itself  ?  We 
will  now  get  back  to  the  fight  where  I  wandered  off  about 
4  o'clock  P.  M. 

We  boys  knew  there  were  negroes  somewhere,  but  up  to 
that  time  they  were  not 1  i  come-at-able. ' '  We  kept  asking- 
each  other  where  were  the  d — d  negroes?  Most  of  us  did, 
not  all,  we  had  some  good  boys,  who  did  not  use  cuss 
words.  Just  about  that  time,  shortly  after  the  terrible 
havoc  by  Mortons'  Bull  Pups,  a  cry  rang  out  not  far  off, 
"Here  are  the  d — d  negroes"!  We  had  been  fighting 
from  9  A.  M.  to  4  P.  M.  constant ;  although  we  fought  like 
fiends,  we  were  tired  like  mortals  and  were  feeling  pretty 
well  fagged  out,  but  when  the  cry  rang  out,  "Here  are  the 
d — d  negroes,"  new  life,  enemy  and  action  coursed 
through  our  bodies  and  we  bounded  forward  with  the 
fleetness  and  agility  of  Old  Leather  Stockings,  of  Fen- 
more  Cooper  fame.  The  negroes  were  in  line  on  a  slight 
ridge  and  when  they  heard  that  yell,  coupled  with  ' '  Here 
are  the  d — d  negroes"  repeated,  here  and  there,  all  over 
the  woods,  and  then  saw  the  maddening  rush  of  the  in- 
furiated Eebs,  they  did  as  mortal  men  will  do  under  like 
circumstances — threw  down  their  guns,  without  firing  a 
shot,  and  bounded  off  with  the  fleetness  of  a  deer. 

Sturgiss,  in  his  report,  says  he  brought  up  the  negroes 


66 


as  the  last  resort  to  check  the  enemy.  Who  can  blame  the 
poor  deluded  negro  1  After  listening,  for  ten  days  past,  to 
the  boasting  of  the  Yanks'  how  easily  with  their  superior 
force  they  would  whip  Forrest  and  turn  all  prisoners  over 
to  them  (negroes).  The  whites  (Yanks)  were  to  do  all  the 
fighting  and  the  negroes  the  guarding.  Keeping  the  ne- 
groes in  the  rear  and  as  the  last  resort  shows  this  to  be 
the  plan,  but  as-  Burns*  says,  "The  best  laid  plans  of  mice 
and  men  aft  gang  a-glee. ' ' 

One  can  imagine  the  1800  negroes  lying  upon  the 
ground  in  some  sequestered  spot,  listening  to  the  sharp 
crackle  of  their  many  rifles,  and  to  the  roar  of  their  many 
pieces  of  artillery.  It  would  not  be  long  before  they  (ne- 
groes) would  have  the  men  who  did  such  havoc  on  their 
race  at  Fort  Pillow.  How,  in  their  almost  savage  imagi- 
nation, did  they  exult  how  they  would  dispose  of  Forrest. 
Some  would  say,  shoot  him;  others,  no,  we  will  play  In- 
dian, and  burn  him.  No  punishment  that  the  most  savage 
mind  of  the  wilds  of  Africa  could  concoct  would  not  have 
been  meted  out  to  General  Forrest,  and  his  men  would 
have  come  in  for  their  share,  if  the  battle  had  been  re- 
versed, and  the  Yanks  would  have  stood  quietly  by,  not- 
withstanding their  boasted  civilization,  and  rejoiced. 

The  Fort  Pillow  affair  is  not,  by  long  odds,  what  it  is 
reported  to  be  by  the  Yankee  side  of  the  house,  and  our 
own  (Southern)  make  to  many  apologies.  It  needs  none. 
The  negroes  had  blue  buckets  (the  common  water  bucket 
at  that  time)  filled  with  whiskey  and  tin  dippers  (to  drink 
with)  passed  around  on  their  line  on  the  breastworks,  and 
were  drinking  and  making  sport  and  contumely  remarks 
of  our  boys  lying  in  line  and  in  front  and  near  them,  while 


67 


the  first  flag  of  truce  was  pending.  The  fact  (about  the 
whiskey)  was  report  to  General  Forrest;  he  said,  "I  will 
give  them  time  to  get  drunk, ' '  and  sent  the  second  flag. 

The  object  was  accomplished — the  negroes  got  drunk. 
Major  Booth,  the  commander,  the  only  soldier  and  gentle- 
man in  the  fort,  was  killed  at  the  first  of  the  fight,  left  the 
negroes  without  a  head.  The  white  element  were  all  Ten- 
nessee home-made  Yanks — who  had  joined  the  Federals 
not  through  any  sense  of  patriotism,  but  for  booty  and 
plunder,  and  as  bad  as  the  worst  Yank  could  do  in  their 
line,  and  they  were  pretty  adept,  the  home-made  Yank 
could  beat  him  two  to  one.  Enough  of  this,  now  back  to 
Tishomingo. 

After  the  rout  of  the  Federals,  about  5  P.  M.,  we  mount- 
ed our  horses  and  began  the  pursuit.  The  7th  Tennessee 
(Forrest)  was  now  in  front.  Early  in  the  night  we  over- 
took a  part  of  their  wagon  train,  filled  with  provisions  for 
both  man  and  best.  We  were  ordered  to  dismount  and  be 
our  own  commissary  sergeant,  but  not  to  unsaddle.  A 
queer  order,  we  thought,  as  tired  and  hungry  as  both  our- 
selves and  horses  were.  We  believed  that  Forrest  had 
just  followed  on  after  Sturgiss,  knowing  he  would  soon 
overtake  a  part  of  the  wagon  train,  and  his  tired,  worn- 
out,  hungry  boys  would  enjoy  a  feast  from  Uncle  Sam's 
larder — and  we  did.  Our  haversacks  were  soon  emptied 
of  the  corn  bread  and  beef,  what  to  fill  them  with  was 
hard  to  decide.  Hard-tack,  ham,  breakfast  bacon,  coffee, 
sugar,  cheese  and  the  Lord  only  knows  all  the  good  things 
they  did  have ;  would  fill  our  haver-sacks,  see  something 
we  liked  better  than  what  we  had,  another  emptying ;  but 
you  can  bet  we  were  eating  all  the  time,  and  so  were  our 


68 


good  horses — they,  too,  had  their  white  cake — shelled 
oats,  hay  and  corn.  Had  not  more  than  finished  eating, 
in  fact,  had  not  quit,  were  ordered  to  mount  and  fall  into 
line.  My  company  (L)  was  in  front  of  the  regiment  and 
consequently  next  to  the  Yanks.  About  midnight  came 
upon  more  of  the  wagon  train  (Federals),  about  half- 
dozen,  they  were  burning.  We  halted  and  sent  word  down 
the  line  to  General  Forrest,  * '  Enemy  in  front  and  burning 
their  wagon  train. ' '  Came  back  the  order : 
i  i  Move  up  in  front ! ' ' 

i ' Enemy  in  front  burning  their  wagon  train,"  was  sent 
back,  would  soon  be  followed  by  an  order  from  Forrest, 
"Move  up  in  front !"  These  orders  passed  several  times 
down  and  up  the  line.  Finally  one  and  the  last,  a  little 
more  emphatic:  ' 'General  Forrest  says,  G — d  d — n  it, 
move  up  in  front!"  Forrest  was  getting  hot  under  the 
collar.  Had  started  our  word,  "Enemy,"  etc.,  down  the 
line,  when  a  rustle  and  snapping  of  bushes  and  limbs  (we 
were  in  the  woods,  was  heard  coming  up  the  line.  Look- 
ing around,  there  were  Iron  Gray  and  Forrest;  and  you 
can  bet  again,  safely,  we  moved  up. 

"Don't  you  see  the  d — d  Yanks  are  burning  my  wag- 
ons? Get  off  your  horses  and  throw  the  burning  beds 
off"! 

In  a  jiffy  every  wagon  was  surrounded  by  men  as  close 
as  they  could  stand  and  off  the  burning  beds  went.  One 
of  our  Lieutenants,  a  gallant  and  good  soldier,  did  not 
dismount.  General  Forrest  espied  him  and  yelled  at  him 
why  he  did  not  help  ?  The  Lieutenant  remarked  he  was  an 
officer.  Forrest  made  at  him  with  his  sabre  drawn,  "I'll 
officer  you, ' '  and  no  acrobat  ever  was  quicker  in  a  move- 


69 


ment  than  our  brave  lieutenant  in  getting  to  the 
ground ;  and  a  full  hand  he  made  in  upsetting  the  wagon 
beds.  Now,  our  Lieutenant  was  one  who  would  not  shirk 
any  duty,  was  one  of  our  bravest  men.  Like  a  great  many 
officers  he  felt  that  kind  of  duty  was  not  in  an  officer's 
line,  and  they  (officers)  generally  acted  so  if  "Marse 
Bedford"  was  not  around. 

We  moved  on  and  somewhere  between  midnight  and 
day  came  to  a  wide  slough  or  creek  bottom ;  it  was  miry 
and  truly  the  slough  of  despair  and  despond  to  the  Yanks. 
Their  artillery  and  wagons  which  had  heretofore  escaped 
capture  were  now  bogged  down  and  had  to  be  abandoned. 
This  slough  was  near  knee  deep  in  mud  and  water,  with 
logs  lying  here  and  there.  On  top  of  every  log  were 
Yanks  perched,  as  close  as  they  could  be,  for  there  were 
more  Yanks  than  logs — reminded  me  of  chickens  at  roost, 
except  each  Yank  had  a  lighted  candle  holding  above  his 
head,  saying,  " Don't  shoot,  don't  shoot."  Two  hundred 
and  seventy-five  men  and  eighteen  pieces  of  artillery  cap- 
tured there.  We,  who  were  in  front,  were  ordered  to  pay 
no  attention  to  prisoners,  those  in  the  rear  would  look 
after  that. 

After  passing  the  slough  we  came  to  a  creek,  Forrest 
in  front.  He  noticed  some  obstruction  in  the  creek  and 
asked  what  it  was,  some  one  answered,  "I  think  it  a  piece 
of  artillery,  but  can't  see  well."  Hold  on,  Forrest  said, 
until  I  light  this  candle  (he  was  carrying  a  candle  in  his 
pocket).  The  light  developed  a  piece  of  artillery  and  two 
dead  horses.  We  turned  up  the  creek  a  short  distance  and 
crossed  over.  Lieutenant  Livingston  remarked  to  General 
Forrest,  "all  of  the  enemys'  force  are  over  here  and  we 


70 


have  but  a  small  force,  not  exceeding  ten  men. ' '  ' 1  That  is 
enough, ' '  he  replied,  ' '  ten  good  men  can  whip  1000  in  the 
fix  we  have  them. ' ' 

We  were  very  close  to  the  rear  of  the  Federals.  In 
fact,  they  so  thought  we  were  a  part  of  their  force.  It 
was  pretty  dark  and  some  of  them  would  drop  back  and 
ride  with  us,  talk  about  the  fight.  One  fell  in  with  me  and 
remarked:   "Old  Forrest  gave  us  hell  today.' ' 

"Yes,"  I  said,  "we  were  fooled  about  old  Forrest's 
strength.  He  (Forrest)  certainly  had  50,000  men  in  that 
fight." 

"Yes,  you  have  that  about  right,  the  woods  were  full  of 
them  and  they  were  everywhere.  I  don 't  know  how  many 
of  my  regiment  got  away,  but  I  am  safe  and  will  take  care 
of  Number  One  from  now  on.  I  have  a  good  horse  and 
can  do  so." 

I  thought  the  joke  had  been  humored  long  enough,  with 
the  click  of  my  navy  six  and  it  pointing  dangerously  near 
him,  I  said,  "You  are  now  with  Forrest's  men,  hand  over 
your  arms  and  roll  off  that  horse." 

"No,  you  can't  fool  me."  But  a  better  inspection  than 
he  had  at  first  given  us,  convinced  him  that  he  was  in  the 
wrong  pew,  and  off  he  tumbled.  This  happened  not  once 
but  often  the  latter  part  of  the  night  with  us  in  front. 

Daylight,  the  rear  of  the  Federals  not  more  than  one 
hundred  yards  in  the  front.  General  Forrest,  as  always 
with  him  when  seeing  the  blue  coats,  yelled  out, 
' 1  Charge ' ' 

Colonel  Taylor  said  to  him,  ' '  We  have  not  over  twenty 
men  in  sight. ' ' 

Half  a  dozen  men  were  ordered  back  to  hurry  up  the 


71 


boys.  We  did  straggle  a  little  tliat  night;  just  think  of 
what  we  had  gone  through  the  day  before.  Up  at  daylight 
getting  breakfast,  sunrise  in  the  saddle,  fighting  from  9 
A.  M.  till  5  P.  M.  with  no  intervals  of  any  moment  at  rest ; 
with  no  slow  movement,  no  sound  of  dinner  horn  or  bell 
that  day;  instead,  the  rattle  of  spurs,  the  sharp  zip,  zip, 
and  singing  minnie,  the  roar  of  cannon,  bombshells  burst- 
ing, ricochet  shots  skipping  along  with  plenty  of  grape 
and  cannister.  Such  a  feast  the  sons  of  Mars  might  en- 
joy, but  sons  of  Mother  Earth  had  as  soon  be  excused. 
Half  an  hour  at  supper  at  the  expense  of  Uncle  Sam's 
warm  invitation,  in  the  saddle  all  night  long.  Yes,  we 
straggled  a  little,  but  Forrest  did  not  get  mad.  Looking 
back  now,  I  can  not  see  how  we  did  endure  the  hardships. 
I  just  guess  Forrest  had  gotten  us  used  to  it. 

By  sunrise  we  had  about  200  boys  up  and  to  charging 
we  went.  The  Federal  cavalry  were  in  the  rear  of  their 
infantry,  we  would  rush  the  cavalry  over  the 
infantry  (the  infantry  had  thrown  away  their  arms)  and 
consequently  the  infantry  were  prisoners.  On  the  next 
hill  the  cavalry  would  make  a  faint  stand,  a  yell  with  a 
charge  and  they  were  gone  again.  This  charging  was'  on 
tap  all  day  up  to  their  last  stand,  four  miles  north  of  Rip- 
ley, Mississippi,  on  the  road  to  Salem,  Mississippi.  For- 
rest was  raised  near  Salem  and  knew  of  an  old  road  that 
went  there.  He  divided  his  command  and  went  with  all 
the  speed  he  could  make  on  that  route  with  part,  but  we 
boys  that  were  behind  the  Yanks  had  them  on  the  run  and 
kept  them  running.  When  Forrest  had  reached  Salem 
not  more  than  twenty-five  Yanks,  as  the  citizens  reported, 
had  passed  through  Salem.    Forrest  felt  sure  he  had 


72 


bagged  his  game,  but  lo  and  behold !  We  met  and  not  a 
Yank  betwixt  us.  It  was  then,  as  Dr.  Weyth  says  in  his 
history:  "Forrest  laid  down  upon  the  ground  completely 
exhausted/ '  Well,  Forrest  was  not  by  himself  in  that 
condition,  his  boys  were  in  it  also. 

We  all  felt  bad  about  that  handful  of  Yanks  getting 
away,  like  the  greedy  boy — we  wanted  all.  The  fight  aud 
race  was  now  over  seventy-five  miles  from  where  we 
started.  This  may  not  be  the  exact  distance,  but  I'm  writ- 
ing just  as  we  boys  called  it  at  that  time. 

In  this  long  fight,  long  in  distance  and  time — seventy- 
five  miles  distance  and  two  days  and  night  in  time — many 
acts  of  the  heroic  and  unheroic  happened.  I  shall  speak 
of  one  of  each  that  occurred  within  my  knowledge.  Of  the 
first  relates  to  Tanner,  the  M.  and  0.  engineer  I  spoke  of 
in  the  first  of  this  article,  a  brave,  gallant  soldier,  now 
dead,  I  think. 

At  the  last  stand  by  the  Federals,  four  miles  north  of 
Eipley,  Mississippi,  when  charged,  they  gave  more  resist- 
ance than  they  had  been  doing,  but  finally  all  ran  except 
one,  a  fine  looking,  manly  fellow,  well  mounted  and  well 
armed.  He  was  sitting  quietly  upon  his  hdrse,  about  sev- 
enty-five yards  from  us  in  the  woods,  whence  ' '  all  but  him 
had  fled,"  he  could  truly  say.  Tanner  saw  him,  said  to 
the  boys,  " Yonder 's  my  meat,"  started  towards  him  in  a 
gallop,  not  expecting  any  resistance  from  one  who  was  ail 
but  surrounded.  When  near,  the  Yank  out  with  his  pistol 
and  about  to  fire,  Tanner  drove  his  spurs  into  his  horse, 
at  a  bound  was  on  the  Yank,  knocked  him  from  his  horse, 
jumped  down  a-straddle  of  the  Yank  as  he  was  endeavor- 
ing to  get  up,  wrenched  the  pistol  from  his  hand  and  made 


73 


him  a  prisoner.  We  asked  the  Yank  way  he  had  resisted? 
He  said  he  was  d — d  tired  of  running,  and  had  made  up 
his  mind  to  sell  himself  as  dear  as  possible,  that  he  let 
Johnny  get  too  close.  Fortunately  for  him,  and  probably 
fortunate  for  Tanner — both  brave  men — the  death  of  both 
or  either  would  not  have  made  any  change  in  the  result. 

The  unheroic — if  such  a  word,  I  hate  to  say  the  othei% 
meaning  for  the  party  made  a  good  camp  soldier  and 
stayed  with  us  throughout  the  war  and  was  surrendered 
at  Gainesville,  Alabama.  Previous  to  the  war  he  was  a 
fighter,  at  least  made  folks  think  so;  he  so  maneuvered 
that  he  was  never  in  battle  from  the  first  of  the  war  until 
this  fight.  He  had  heard  Forrest  say,  as  he  (Forrest) 
was  passing  by  our  command  the  morning  previous  to  the 
battle,  ' '  You  boys  had  your  fun  the  other  day,  I  am  going 
to  put  you  in  the  rear. "  As  we  were  not  to  do  any  fight- 
ing that  day,  our  fighted  was  not  particular  of  his  num- 
ber. In  forming  our  company  line  we  count  off  by  fours, 
now  No.  4,  when  dismounted,  and  we  fought  near  all  the 
time  dismounted,  holds  the  horses  of  his  set  (1,  2,  3,  4). 
That  morning,  not  being  particular,  his  number  was  odd, 
either  1  or  3.  My  position  was  in  the  rear  of  my  com- 
pany to  see  that  every  man  kept  his  place.  To  my  sur- 
prise, and  I  am  certain  to  his,  when  the  order  to  load,  trot, 
gallop  and  to  the  run  came,  we  had  probably  gone  a  mile, 
my  fighter  was  sitting  on  his  horse  by  the  roadside,  with 
his  saddle-blanket  on  the  ground.  I  ordered  him  to  his 
place;  he  went.  Did  not  go  far  before  he  stopped  with 
his  saddle  bags,  containing  all  his  cloths,  on  the  ground. 
I  ordered  him  again  to  his  place,  he  went ;  had  not  gone 
far,  there  he  was  again  on  the  roadside,  pointing  down  to 


74 


ground,  saying,  ' '  Lieutenant,  I  have  dropped  my  carbine, 
pistols'  and  cartridge  box. ' '  He  felt  sure  I  would  let  him 
stop  for  these  if  I  did  not  for  his  clothes  and  blanket,  but 
I  ordered  one  of  the  best  men  in  the  company  to  carry  him 
to  his  place,  which  he  did.  In  forming  the  line  of  battle 
at  the  cornfield  I  noticed  he  was  holding  a  horse,  T  or- 
dered him  to  his  place.  He  replied  he  had  neither  gun, 
pistol  or  cartridge.  I  made  No.  4,  who  was  a  brave  sol- 
dier, hand  up  his  arms  to  our  fighter.  I  went  to  him  when 
in  line,  the  minnie  balls  were  singing  lively  over  our 
heads,  told  him  he  was  not  any  more  afraid  than  we  were, 
and  now  was  the  trying  time  and  just  as  soon  as  we  com- 
menced shooting  the  fright  was  all  over,  be  a  man.  He 
went  with  us  and  through  that  charge.  Having  occasion 
to  fill  my  canteen  with  water  about  2  o'clock,  passing  near 
a  log  I  heard  a  groan;  thinking  it  might  be  one  of  our 
boys  I  went  to  it  and  there  lay  my  fighter.  I  was  knocked 
all  to  pieces.  I  promised  myself  I  would  never  force  an- 
other man  in  a  fight.  Of  course,  I  expected  to  find  him 
shot.   I  ran  to  him,  lifted  up  his  head  in  my  arms. 

1 '  Don 't  you  want  water  ? ' ' 

"Yes." 

' '  Where  are  you  hurt  ? ' ' 

' 1  Cannon  ball  struck,  hit  my  leg. '  9 

One  of  the  boys  was*  with  me,  I  had  him  to  examine  his 
leg  while  I  was  giving  him  water.  All  at  once  my  comrade 
dropped  his  leg  and  remarked,  "He  is  not  hurt."  I  let 
go  his  head,  jumped  to  my  feet,  when  I  said,  "it  is  time 
we  were  getting  away  from  here,  as  the  Yankees  would 
soon  be  here,"  He  sprang  from  the  ground  and  bounded 
off  like  a  deer. 


75 


I  did  not  see  him  again  until  the  second  day  after,  when 
going  into  Ripley  with  a  good  squad  of  prisoners  picked 
up  in  the  woods  between  Salem  and  Ripley.  He  was 
standing  near  the  Court  House  (Ripley)  surrounded  by  a 
good  group  of  ladies — a  hero.  He  had  the  day  before  been 
trailing  in  the  rear  north  of  Ripley  alone,  twenty  Yankees 
stepped  out  into  the  road,  he  said  to  them,  "I  surrender.' ' 
"No,  you  don't.  You  turn  around  and  take  us  back  to 
Ripley, ' '  which  he  did.  After  getting  into  Ripley,  where 
were  several  hundred  of  Forrest's  men,  my  fighter  made 
the  Yanks  get  in  his  front  and  he  marched  in  that  way  to 
the  Court  House.  One  Reb  bringing  in  twenty  Yanks 
alone  made  him  the  hero  for  the  time.  The  ladies  could 
not  do  enough  for  him.  As  I  got  in  with  my  prisoners  he 
saw  me  and  came  to  me  telling  me  how  much  better  he  had 
done.  Of  course  we  boys  laughed,  not  believing  his  story. 
The  ladies  soon  spoke  up — said  it  was  true — and  that  I 
should  be  proud  of  him.  I  carried  my  prisoners  to  the 
Court  House.  He,  unfortunately  for  him,  followed  and 
when  in  the  Court  House  one  of  his  twenty  Yanks  espied 
him,  saying,  "Here  is  our  man,  boys,  that  we  captured 
yesterday. ' '  After  that  our  fighter  had  played ;  told  me 
he  could  not  fight — put  him  on  all  duty.  I  did  so,  and  he 
surrendered  with  us  at  Gainesville,  a  good  camp  soldier. 

After  meeting  Forrest  near  Salem,  and  no  Yanks  ahead 
but  that  handful,  we  knew  they  had  to  be  somewhere.  It 
is  a  ridgey,  broken  country,  between  Salem  and  Ripley, 
and  we  scattered  in  small  bodies  on  both  sides  of  the  road, 
just  exactly  as  we  would  have  done  had  we  been  hunting 
rabbits'  in  deep  snow  time,  feeling  there  was  no  more 
danger  of  a  Yank  shooting  than  a  rabbit 's  biting.   It  was 


76 


fun— big  sport ;  up  and  down  the  hollows  we  would  ride ; 
come  on  them  in  squads  ranging  from  a  half  a  dozen  to 
twenty  and  more.  Up  would  go  their  hands,  exclaiming, 
uWe  surrender  I"  No  sign  of  resistance,  really  unarmed, 
most  of  them  had  thrown  away  not  only  their  arms  but 
their  haver-sacks,  clothing  and  blankets ;  foot-sore,  tired 
and  hungry.  But  all  that  were  not,  what  they  considered 
their  worst  discomfort  was  having  those  negroes  along 
with  them.  Conscience  was  now  putting  in  its  sharp  and 
stinging  work.  They,  the  whites,  knew  how  they  had 
boasted  and  acted  on  that  same  road  a  few  days  before. 
The  negroes  of  the  oath,  on  bended  knee  at  Memphis,  and 
the  black  flags,  their  insults  to  the  mothers  and  sisters 
probably  of  some  of  the  men  now  after  them.  When  found 
in  mixed  squads,  Yanks  and  negroes,  often  they  would  be 
fighting,  whites  endeavoring  to  force  the  negroes  away 
and  the  negroes  equally  determined  on  staying  with  the 
Yanks.  The  Yank  afraid  to  be  caught  with  the  negro  and 
the  negro  afraid  to  be  caught  without  the  Yank. 

On  their  (Federals)  way  down  South  several  negro  sol- 
diers entered  a  house  in  which  a  mother  and  several  small 
children  were  living — the  youngest,  a  baby  boy,  lying  in 
the  cradle.  One  of  the  negroes  caught  it  up  by  the  heels 
and  said  to  the  mother  he  would  stop  the  breed  of  Forrest 
men,  was  about  to  dash  its  brains  out  against  the  door, 
when  the  mother,  with  the  strength  and  ferocity  of  a  lion- 
ess, snatched  her  child  from  the  brute's  hands  and  saved 
her  baby  boy.  It  was  this  and  its  like  that  rendered  For- 
rest and  his  men  irresistible,  and  the  other  (Federal)  side 
quake  and  tremble  when  the  battle  was  on.  The  question 
may  be  asked  how  it  was  possible  Forrest  whipped  Stur- 


77 


giss  at  Tishomingo.  It  can  be  attributed  to  several 
causes:  His  unexcelled  and  unequaled  bravery;  good 
common  sense  and  judgment;  the  unbound  confidence  of 
the  men  in  Forrest  and  whatever  he  undertook.  Forrest 
was,  in  truth,  a  leader.  He  never  said,  go  ahead  boys! 
but  "follow"!  He  was  always  in  front  and  where  the 
battle  waxed  warmest.  This  style  of  fighting  was  the  re- 
verse of  West  Pointism.  Every  man  that  could  shoot  was 
in  the  fight  from  start  to  finish;  not  as  West  Point,  one- 
half  to  two-thirds  held  as  a  reserve,  which  we  found  to 
our  cost  at  Britton  Lane  and  Harrisburgh,  where  West 
Point  controlled.  Forrest  went  into  win — got  in  the  first 
blow  and  won  not  by  holding  back  men  as  a  reserve  to 
make  a  graceful  or,  more  properly  termed,  a  shameful  re- 
treat, which  was  generally  practiced  by  West  Pointers. 

Forrest  found  Sturgiss  as  he  predicted,  stretched  seven 
miles  on  the  road,  weather  dry  and  hot.  Sturgiss  knew 
Forrest's  strength,  knew  where  Lee  was,  and  his  strength. 
West  Point  tactics  said  to  Sturgiss :  Forrest  will  not  dare 
to  fight  with  his  small  force  (3200)  but  will  fall  back  and 
make  a  junction  with  Lee  and  his  3500.  West  Point  would 
have  said  (and  as  it  did  if  Tanner's  story  is  true)  to  For- 
rest, fall  back.  It  would  be  foolhardy  to  tackle  12,000  with 
twenty-two  pieces  of  artillery  with  your  force,  3200  and 
four  pieces  of  artillery.  Join  Lee's  force,  he  is  only 
thirty-five  miles  distant,  and  you  may  win  or  at  least  so 
cripple  Sturgiss  he  will  have  to  go  back  to  Memphis.  But 
Old  Common  Sense,  Forrest's  tactician,  said,  pitch  into 
Sturgiss  as  you  commanded  General  Lyon  to  do,  with  all 
your  might,  whip  him  as  fast  as  he  can  get  his  men  up, 
you  are  200  stronger  than  his  cavalry.  Whip  that  before 


78 


the  infantry  can  be  gotten  to  its  support ;  yon  can  handle 
the  infantry  as  fast  as  it  can  get  np ;  true,  yonr  men  will 
have  no  rest,  still  their  condition  will  be  as  good  as  the 
infantry  that  has  already  double-quicked  from  two  to 
seven  miles.  Thus  Forrest  planned  and  fought,  gaining 
a  victory  that  almost  annihilated  Sturgiss'  army.  So  it 
resolves  itself  into  this:  Forrest,  with  his  alertness, 
bravery  and  good  judgment,  his  style  of  fighting  without 
reserves — with  a  small  force,  was  vastly  superior  to  a 
stronger,  numerically,  one  to  four  and  one-half,  handled 
by  West  Point  tactics.  What  material  composed  For- 
rest's cavalry?  The  best  type  of  the  young  manhood  of 
Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Alabama,  Missouri  and  Missis- 
sippi. The  equal  of  the  earth.  Furnished  their  own  in 
everything — horses,  accoutrements,  arms  and  service — no 
expense  to  the  Confederate  government  but  for  corn  and 
beef — that  not  too  plentiful  or  good.  But  we  grumbled 
not ;  were  not  fighting  for  grub.  The  principles  that  actu- 
ated our  grand-sires  in  1776  actuated  us  in  1861. 

It  is  said  history  repeats  itself.  My  grandfather,  John 
Witherspoon,  of  North  Carolina,  fought  with  Marion,  the 
great  cavalry  leader  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  1776,  for 
the  defense  of  his  home  against  the  aggression  of  Eng- 
land. He  furnished  his  horse  and  squirrel  rifle  and  was 
called  by  so  doing  a  rebel  against  the  best  government  on 
earth.  I,  his  grandson,  William  Witherspoon,  Jackson, 
Tennessee,  followed  the  " Wizard  of  the  Saddle,"  N.  B. 
Forrest,  the  greatest  cavalry  leader  the  world  has  ever 
produced,  throughout  the  Civil  War ;  fighting  for  the  de- 
fense of  home  and  property,  against  the  aggressions  of 
the  North.    I,  too,  furnished  my  horse  and  the  double- 


79 


barrel  shotgun  I  formerly  shot  squirrels  with,  and  by  do- 
ing so  am  called  a  rebel  against  the  best  government  on 
earth.  My  grandfather  was  prond  of  the  term  4 '  Rebel. ' ' 
I  may  have  the  love  for  the  term  1 1  Rebel ' 1  by  inheritance, 
yet  I  love  it  and  will  so  teach  my  children.  I  simply  look 
at  it  that  grandfather  in  1776  and  myself  in  1861  were 
standing  in  the  same  shoes. 


Library  Bureau   Cat   no.  1137 

Duke  University  Libraries 


D02173403K 


